World’s largest recorded freshwater fish

The world’s largest recorded freshwater fish, a giant stingray, has been caught in the Mekong River in Cambodia, according to scientists from the Southeast Asian nation and the United States.

The stingray measured almost four metres (13 feet) from snout to tail and weighed slightly under 300 kilograms (660 pounds), according to a statement by Wonders of the Mekong, a joint Cambodian-US research project.

The previous record was a 293-kilogram (646-pound) Mekong giant catfish, discovered in Thailand in 2005.

“About 70% of giant freshwater fish globally are threatened with extinction, and all of the Mekong species. They’re high-value species and take a long time to mature,” project leader Zeb Hogan said in an online interview from the University of Nevada in Reno.

The team inserted a tagging device near the tail of the mighty fish before releasing it, to obtain unprecedented data on giant stingray behaviour in Cambodia.

Unique Jetsons house for sale

An unusual house for sale in Oklahoma is drawing attention online due to its resemblance to the titular family’s domicile from classic cartoon series The Jetsons.

Nancy Davis Vandenhende of Halloran Home Team — eXp Realty, who showed the unusual Tulsa home in a popular TikTok video, said the house features its own elevator that takes residents and visitors up to the saucer-shaped main floor of the house. The home features windows on all sides and a “breath-taking view of the Tulsa Skyline,” the listing states.

Baby goat born with 19-inch ears in Pakistan

A goat farm owner said a recently born baby goat, or kid as they are called, might be a new world record after her ears were measured at nearly 19 inches.

Muhammad Hassan Narejo of the Narejo Goat Farm in Sindh said the baby goat, named Simba, was born June 5, and Narejo immediately noticed her unusually long ears, which drag on the ground when the animal walks.

Narejo said Simba is a Nubian goat, a breed known for their long ears, but her ears are long even by Nubian standards, possibly owing to a genetic mutation.

The farmer said Simba is in good health and he believes she could end up as a Guinness World Record holder when she reaches her full size.

World’s biggest bacterium found in Caribbean

Scientists have discovered the world’s largest bacterium in a Caribbean mangrove swamp. Most bacteria are microscopic, but this one is so big it can be seen with the naked eye.

The thin white filament, approximately the size of a human eyelash, is “by far the largest bacterium known to date,” said Jean-Marie Volland, a marine biologist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and co-author of a paper on the discovery in the journal Science.

The first example of this bacterium — named Thiomargarita magnifica, or “magnificent sulphur pearl” — was found clinging to sunken mangrove leaves in the archipelago of Guadeloupe in 2009.

The bacterium was also found attached to oyster shells, rocks and glass bottles in the swamp.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 16th, 2022