Record-Breaking Mekong Catfish: The Largest Ever Caught

Divided into 33 families, 400 genera, and more than 3,000 species, catfish can be found around the globe. They are found on every continent, excluding Antarctica. Amateur fishermen and professional anglers alike seek out these mavens of mud, which can grow to enormous sizes. So, how big do catfish get, and how big was the largest catfish ever caught? Continue reading to discover the answers and more.

Catfish: Overview

Easily recognized by the barbels (whiskers) on their face, catfish use these sense organs to help them find food. They range from tiny, like pencil catfish (Trichomycteridae), which are less than an inch long, to the wels catfish (Silurus glanis), which weigh 44 pounds on average, though larger specimens weighing over 200 pounds have been documented.  

Omnivorous bottom feeders that feed at night, catfish have voracious appetites. Their diet includes aquatic plants and seeds, fish, mollusks, insects and their larvae, and crustaceans.

Catfish are a popular sport fish, but one must be cautious when hunting and handling these bottom dwellers. About half of all catfish species are venomous. Catfish inject their prey with venom from microscopic venom glands along the edges of three sharp spines, one on the dorsal fin and one on each pectoral fin. Catfish venom ranges from producing a mild sting to inflicting severe tissue damage.

Unusual Catfish

With over 3,000 varieties, there are bound to be some unusual species, like the electric catfish (Malapteruridae), found in the Nile River. These catfish can deliver electrical shocks of 100 to 400 volts, which they use to stun their prey and deter predators.

The striped Raphael catfish (Platydoras armatulus), or talking catfish, makes audible sounds by expelling air through their swim bladder, while the Marbled talking catfish (Amblydoras nauticus) makes sounds by vibrating their pectoral fin spines against their pectoral girdle.

The walking catfish uses its pectoral fins as arms to move through wet and dry places. This catfish can also breathe out of the water. Although not native to the U.S., it has become an invasive species, breeding quickly. 

Catfish: An Ancient Fish

Catfish have been around for centuries. It is even believed that they were around during the Cretaceous Period, co-existing with the dinosaurs. 

A giant catfish fossil was found in the Wadi Al-Hitan Desert southwest of Cairo, Egypt, in 2017. The Catfish, Qarmoutus hitanensis, is believed to have lived about 37 million years ago. Surprisingly, paleontologists discovered that the fossil showed that catfish have remained unchanged anatomically.

World Record Mekong Catfish

The world record for the biggest catfish ever caught was a Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas). These giant catfish live in the dusky waters of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. In 2005, a Mekong catfish was caught weighing 646 pounds.  As of June 2025, no larger freshwater catfish has been officially recorded.

The Mekong giant catfish is critically endangered and threatened by habitat degradation and the building of dams along the Mekong River. The villagers intended to sell the fish to an environmental group. Unfortunately, the fish died before they were able to do so. Instead, the villagers used the fish for food, feeding their community for several weeks — an experience they will always remember.