A fisherman in India's southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh caught a rare rohu carp weighing 15 kilograms, a catch so large that local residents said nothing like it had been landed in the area for 50 years, according to the Times of India.
The man, named Sattibabu, is from the village of Konguvarigudem. He pulled the fish from the Sri Karatam Krishnamurthy Yerra Kalva reservoir, and word of the unusually large catch quickly drew the attention of people living nearby.
Sattibabu took the carp to a local market and put it up for auction. The fish sold for 10,000 rupees, and the buyer traveled 40 kilometers to collect it.
The deputy director of the district fisheries department said carp of that species rarely grow to such a large size. He added that fish of this weight are difficult to catch, whether by rod or by net, which is part of what made the catch so unusual.
What is a rohu carp?
Rohu is a freshwater carp native to river systems across South Asia and is one of the most widely farmed and eaten fish in India, commonly used in curries and other everyday dishes. Farmed rohu is typically harvested well before it reaches anything close to 15 kilograms, which is why a wild specimen of that size caught in a reservoir stood out enough to gather a crowd. Andhra Pradesh, where Konguvarigudem is located, lies on India's southeastern coast and is dotted with reservoirs and irrigation canals that support both commercial fish farming and everyday fishing by local residents.
Other large catches making news
Sattibabu's catch follows other unusually large fish that have drawn attention in recent reporting. An angler off the coast of North Carolina in the United States caught a cubera snapper weighing more than 38 kilograms, setting a record catch. The man said it took him about 15 minutes to bring the fish to the surface and haul it out of the water.
