Do Not Mess With Fish 16

BRIT angler Alan Melhuish is the toast of Spain after catching the country's biggest ever fish.

The 61-year-old snagged a massive eight feet long catfish weighing more than 16 STONE. Alan's monster from the deep – which is one of the biggest fish ever caught in Europe – fought like a bull but eventually gave in to the coroner's officer's determination. Alan spent half-an-hour reeling in the 226lbs record catch that weighed more than England rugby forward George Chuter.

By the time the fish was landed it was nearly midnight, so it was tethered in the river until morning when it could be weighed and photographed. Ecstatic Alan, from Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, spent a week on the River Ebro near Barcelona trying the land a whopper. He was with his son-in-law Steve Hutter, 35, and friend Billy Brown, 35, both sergeants in the RAF. And it needed all three men to hold it when it was caught. The catfish was placed on the scales which went beyond the 200lb mark, sparking scenes of celebration in the river bank. Alan said: “I went on a week’s trip there last year but didn’t catch much, but I booked another week this year.

another one for the pot!

“It was almost on the last day when I hooked the big one. I was standing on a pontoon and I could tell it was big. “It ripped the line and must have raced 40 metres up the river. It took me half-an-hour to to get it in and I could tell it was a decent size. “I had to use all my strength to stop myself from being pulled off the pontoon into the river. “When I got it into the shallows my son-in-law went down to have a look and he told me it was massive. “It was gone 11pm and dark so we secured it for the night on a 100metre length of rope and came back first thing in the morning. “There are three weights of catfish that get anglers excited, 100lbs, 150lbs, and then the magical 200lbs mark. “When the scales went past the 200 mark and up to 226lbs I knew it was the fish of a lifetime." The biggest freshwater fish ever caught in Europe was a catfish that tipped the scales at 243lbs in Italy.

Now for my bit, This is Europe's largest freshwater fish (if you accept the fact that a sturgeon is not freshwater) and is only one of two catfish indigenous to Europe the other from the same genus, Silurus aristotelis from the River Akelhoos in Greece. This species looks like the other wels, but its dorsal fin is smaller, and it has just two pairs of barbels. The caudal fin is distinct from the anal fin.The Common name for glanis is the 'Wels Catfish' and is found in the Rhine River in Germany eastwards to the Black and Caspian Seas.The elongated wels body consists of a powerful fore body and a laterally greatly compressed tail shaft; the prominent anal fin merges with the caudal fin. This fish, with its calm undulating tail movements normally has its long pair of upper jaw barbels pointing straight forward, while the four smaller barbels of the lower lip hang down. The dorsal fin, consisting of just four rays, seems small for such a powerful animal.

Identification of the Silurus genus relates to the long anal fin, small dorsal fin with four or five rays without a spine, and minus an adipose fin. The caudal fin is usually round to emarginate.The name Silurus was used for some time for all naked catfishes until Bleeker identified the distinguishing characters of the various currently recognised groups. Silurus glanis was actually the first catfish to be scientifically recorded. It had been introduced sporadically to Lakes in England during the latter part of last century where clubs have been formed, relating only to these fish, with videos being produced of them being caught for sport in England, and other parts of Europe.

Characteristics: Dorsal 1/4; Anal 90-92; Pectorals; 1/14-17. Body elongate, cylindrical anteriorly, compressed posteriorly. Head large and depressed. Gape very wide. 3 pairs of barbels; the maxillary pair are especially long and when laid back, reach to beyond the pectorals. The dorsal fin is very small and inserted well forward. Adipose fin absent. Anal fin-base very long.Colour: Colouration extremely variable; usually fairly dark, the upperside dark olive-green to blue-black and the flanks paler, occasionally with a red-brownish sheen. Underside, especially the belly, pale. Upon this ground colour are imposed cloudy or spotted marblings. Entirely black-blue and quite pale individuals also occur. Fins dark, red-brownish to brown-violet.

Breeding: In their native habitat in the spring (May-July), the eggs are laid in a shallow depression excavated by the male, the eggs can total into the thousands and the growth is very rapid, with them becoming sexually mature at between 4 and 5 years old.

Feeding: In the wild they have been known to eat ducks where they rush up behind them at night, sucking them into their mouths with a vortex motion. In their native habitat they feed on other fishes mainly eels, burbot, tench and roach, but it also takes water voles as well as the ducklings.Etymology: Silurus; From 'silouros', a kind of river fish. Silurus, sheetfish, catfish.

According to Lacepéde (1803) this word indicates the rapidity with which Silurus can move its tail.

glanis; The name of a kind of fish.

Most wels catfish are only about 1.3 to 1.6 m (4 ft 3 in to 5 ft 3 in) long; fish longer than 2 m (6 ft 6 in) are normally extremely rare. At 1.5 m they can weigh 15 to 20 kg and at 2.20 m they can weigh 65 kg. Only under exceptionally good living circumstances can the wels catfish reach lengths of more than 2 m, as with the record wels catfish of Kiebingen (near Rottenburg, Germany), which was 2.49 m (8 ft 2 in) long and weighed 89 kg (196 lb). This giant was surpassed by some even larger specimens from Poland, France, Spain (in the River Ebro), Itay (in the River Po), and Greece, where this fish was released a few decades ago. It grows very well at that location thanks to the mild climate, lack of competition, and good food supply. The record sized was 3 m (9.9 ft) long fish, caught in the Danube in Romania, weighing about 220 kg (440 lb), until only recently when a 226 lb (102 kg), 8 ft (2.4 m) monster was caught in the Ebro River in Spain by Carl Smith. Other reports of larger wels are unlikely and are often regarded as typical big fish stories or in some cases misidentifications of the now rare sturgeon.