VietNamNet Bridge - A trader in District 7, HCM City, on November 17 said he had bought a pair of giant barbs or Siamese giant carps weighing 240kg from the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

The pair includes a black and a red giant carp. The red carb weighed 130kg, 1.5m long while the black carb weighed nearly 110kg, with a length of 1.3 m.

According to the trader, the two giant carps were caught by fishermen in the border area of Cambodia – Vietnam, from the Mekong River and then sold to a person in Kien Giang province.

The Saigon trader sold the fish to a restaurant in HCM City.

The giant barb or Siamese giant carp is the largest species of cyprinid in the world. These migratory fish are found only in the Mae Klong, Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins in Indochina. Its numbers have declined drastically due to habitat loss and overfishing, and it is now considered critically endangered.

Previously some fishermen in the Mekong Delta caught the rare fish and all of the fish were sold to restaurants in HCM City.

On December 28, 2014, a fisherman in Dong Thap caught a 90kg giant barb in the Nha Man River (a tributary of Tien River).

On December 6, 2014, a 1.8 m long, 130 kg giant barb was caught by fishermen Nguyen Thanh Loc, 50 and Nguyen Van Minh, 27, in Vinh Long province in the Co Chien River.

On October 16, 2014, Tran Minh Dung, 35, a fisherman in Ho Chi Minh, netted a 130 kg giant barb in the Dong Nai River, District 9, HCM City.

Linh Nhat