Cambodai Giant Barb

In Cambodia, the barb appears in ancient temple carvings at Angkor and has been named the national fish.

The giant barb is a river fish that often frequents deep pools but may move seasonally into canals or river floodplains. Juveniles are often seen in swamps or smaller river tributaries. These massive fish sustain their bulk on tiny plants such as phytoplankton as well as algae, seaweed, and, during periods of high water, the fruits of submerged terrestrial plants.

The head is rather large for the body. There are no
barbels.The giant barb ranks among the largest freshwater fish in the world, and is probably the largest fish in the family Cyprinidae. It may reach 3 m (9.8 ft) (although this claimed maximum length needs confirmation) and weigh up to 300 kg (660 lb). Few large individuals are caught today. For example, no individual weighing more than 150 kg (330 lb) has been caught in Cambodia since 1994. Among the cyprinids, only the golden mahseer can reach a comparable length, but it is a relatively slender fish that weighs far less.
This fish is actually tetraploid, meaning it has four of each chromosome (as opposed to diploid, the normal number in animals).

A boy poses with a giant barb on the Tonle Sap River near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The fish, landed as bycatch by a local fishing operation, was tagged and released as part of a study of large freshwater species in the Mekong River Basin. There is evidence that giant barb once reached sizes of 10 feet (3 meters) long and 660 pounds (300 kilograms), but today specimens even half that size are extremely rare.