Sent in by Bruce Marsh:

“For all those crazy guys who go ‘noodling’ for catfish and & stick their arms down the fish’s throat!! This would be ‘all the catfish you can eat.’

“Each year, a few people were drowning or disappearing mysteriously in Huadu’s Furong Reservoir ( China ). It was not until recently, when the son of a government official went swimming in the reservoir and was drowned that the secret was revealed.

“It is a 3-metre long man-eating catfish whose head alone is 1 metre wide! After cutting up the catfish, people were surprised to find the remains of another man inside!

“Swimming in the reservoir is now forbidden because it is feared another similar man-eating catfish is still lurking in the waters.”

True picture.

Brian writes in, however:

“I think you might have been hoaxed with the giant “catfish” on your blog.  Google images for “whale shark” and “mekong catfish”.  There ARE giant catfish in Asia, but this photo looks like a smallish whale shark.  The clue is the dorsal fin – catfish are bony so their dorsal fin looks like a bat wing, sharks are cartiliginous so their dorsal fins are smooth.  You also notice that the pectoral fins have been removed?  The Chinese like that shark fin soup don’t they? The story could be true, but to me that picture is not a catfish. ”
I’m thinking the picture is true (perhaps falsely identified), but the story is made up. Who can tell with what comes from China nowadays? Ha  Ha Ha. At least it’s a big interesting “swimming thing”!

Nigel Thompson writes in:

“Just want to let you know that the animal pictured in your recent ‘HolyCatfish’ blog entry is actually not a catfish but a whale shark.  The story of the man-eating catfish appears to be another Internet-based urban legend.  Not only is it a whale shark, but whale sharks are filter-feeders and mainly eat plankton and algae.  It’s one of the large, relatively peaceful animals that exist in the world.  These  animals cavort gently with scuba divers.  On top of that, it’s an endangered species.  (I’m no marine biologist, I just did some checking.) I’m positive you’ll want to know this.”