The River Po, which meanders across northern Italy and through the cities of Turin and Piacenza, is a hotspot for extremely large catfish. The prized fish are native to Central and Eastern Europe but have been introduced to other parts of the continent in the last 25 years, with populations mushrooming in major rivers across Italy, France and Spain. Wels catfish are the largest freshwater fish in Europe, excluding species that migrate inland from the sea to breed, known as anadromous species. And the issue is not unique to the Po-amid dry climate conditions, rivers across the continent flowed slowly and even became impassable to barge traffic in August, wrote Kate Connolly for the Guardian.The gigantic fish could break the previous record for the largest wels catfish ever caught by 1.6 inches. Winter brought little relief to the parched river valley, and in early April, the river reached a 30-year seasonal low, as Paolo Santalucia reported for the Associated Press. Last summer, water levels dipped so much that a sunken World War II barge became visible. The Po is known for producing enormous catfish, but it’s at risk of drying up as an ongoing drought plagues the region. A post shared by Alessandro Biancardi madcat Biancardi did not keep the fish, it will qualify for the association’s new catch-and-release length record, as Travis Hall reports for Field & Stream magazine. If his measurement checks out, his fish is more than an inch (four centimeters) longer than the current record-holder in that category, which also came from the Po River: In April, two fishermen in an inflatable raft set the standing record.
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