Factual
River Monsters Episode 3 - European Maneater
Having travelled the world in search of extraordinary fish, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade investigates a river monster just ten miles away from a 21st century European capital city. A report in a German newspaper says swimmers are being attacked in a lake outside Berlin, and Jeremy suspects it may be Europe’s freshwater maneater that’s been chronicled since medieval times: the Wels Catfish.
The Wels is Europe’s largest freshwater fish, capable of reaching over 200lbs and attacks on humans have been reported across Eastern Europe from Russia to Poland through the ages right up to the present day.
Jeremy travels to Germany to the lake where the attacks on swimmers have reportedly been taking place. Over a mile long and up to 700 ft across Schlastsee was formed in the last ice age and is just 10 minutes from Berlin’s city centre.
These cold waters have always been a refuge for Wels catfish and Jeremy meets Jonas Vegg, one of the victims of the attacks. He explains: “I was swimming ten or twenty seconds out of the lake, and suddenly something bit me. I don’t know what it was but it was a very big shock for me. It hurt very much of course.”
Jeremy says: “To find out what’s going on below I’m working with my cameraman Simon and a mini submarine. We have also enlisted the help of Dr Christian Wolther from the Berlin Fisheries to give me an expert opinion.”
They discover that where the attacks have been taking place, around 10 metres out from the bank, the water is shallow and weedy. Dr Wolther believes this may explain the attacks, saying: “These are common spawning places…[Catfish] build nests in the plants where they lay their eggs and then they guard their nests. And attack something which comes too close.”
The Schlachtensee catfish prove elusive when Jeremy tries to catch them but his trip has confirmed that these fish have an aggressive attitude. Next he needs to find out if they can reach the size of a true river monster and heads to Northern Spain. In 1974 a German scientist came to the River Ebro and released some Wels who have since grown in both numbers and size.
Jeremy says: “There are three reasons why the Wels catfish are growing so big in this river, it’s a mixture of man made and natural. For a start you’ve got three of these huge dams and it just means there’s so much more water, more space for the fish to live in. On top of that, this water is hot. The fish being a cold blooded animal can just feed and grow for more months of the year than they do in Eastern Europe and in Berlin.”
He explains: “There’s a policy of catch and release. So every year the biggest fish are even bigger than the year before. Monsters of over 200lbs already prowl these waters. Wels can live to 80 years… They’re estimated to put on up to ten pounds a year. If that’s true it won’t be long before an Ebro Wels reaches the man-eating proportions of medieval folklore.”
Jeremy drops his bait just over 100 yards out and sets up a bell on the rod as an alarm system; the tried and tested way of catching Wels in the Ebro. After a wait in the hot Spanish sun Jeremy realises a fish is taking line. Taking up his rod, Jeremy says: “This is physical, physical stuff. It’s actually taking line. My forearm is almost cramping up.”
Jeremy’s fish is revealed to weigh 140lbs and measures six feet nine inches. But, if the fish are putting on the estimated ten pounds a year, a fish like this could weigh as much as 340llbs in 20 years time.
Taking a closer look at the fish, Jeremy says: “You’ve got this very, very wide mouth ten inches across on this animal and needle like teeth. Put your hand in there and they’ll draw blood. If they clamp down tight with those jaw muscles, you’re not gonna get out of that.”
But Jeremy is still short of his target of catching a 150lb beast. He decides to look at the creatures in their natural habitat, dangling a camera off the back of the boat. He explains: “What we’re doing is something called ‘clonking’ and it’s sending a sound wave down into the water and we can see on the sonar.”
A catfish comes into view on the middle of the screen, attracted by the disturbance. Jeremy says: “What this has just demonstrated is that when you’ve got splashing, commotion on the surface, the catfish will come up to investigate.”
Jeremy is still determined to catch a catfish that weighs over 150lbs and he reels in a monster that looks like it could be his target. He says: “I’m about 175 pounds on a good day or a bad day depending on how you look at it. This fish could be more than that. 74 kilos, that’s about 163 pounds. Not quite as big, and fat and ugly as I am.”
Jeremy concludes that Wels Catfish have a predatory attitude and says: “If I came back here in twenty or thirty years, I think it’s possible there could be something in here that is bigger than anything that’s ever existed before.”
Last edited: Tuesday, 10 November 2009
