‘Too heavy to hang up’

 

 

 

 

Amazed by the size: Min Shen touching the 'loong tan'.

MARKETGOERS were amazed when they spotted a giant fish at the Cecil Street Market in Penang.
The grouper or ‘loong tan’ as it is commonly known weighed about 195kg and 1.8m long.
It took seven men to lift the grouper and lay it on the countertop while about 30 curious onlookers and marketgoers started taking photographs with their mobile phones.
It is believed to be the largest catch in Malaysian waters as the previous record was of a 180kg fish caught in 2008 near Pulau Sembilan in the Straits of Malacca.
Fisherman Tan Kah Seng, 38, who caught the grouper off the Teluk Bahang coast on Monday night, said this was the biggest fish that he had caught this year.
“It is too heavy for us to hang up. I think it takes about 35 years for a grouper to grow to such a huge size,” he said yesterday.
He said he would usually sell such a big fish to eatery outlet operators but this time around, he did not plan on selling the fish as it was not fresh.
Tan said he had yet to decide on what to do with the grouper.
He has been a fisherman for more than 20 years and has netted 30 big fish.
It was reported in February that a 165kg giant grouper found its way into Tan’s trawling net.
In August 2010, Tan also caught a fish weighing a whopping 168kg and a 203kg shark believed to be a nurse shark.
Student Tan Min Shen, 13, who was at the market, said this was the first time he had seen such a big fish.
“At first I thought the men were moving a big rock until I approached the stall and I was really amazed by the size of the fish,” he said.

SOURCE: THESTAR