Claim: Photograph shows a 280-pound catfish caught by an Italian fisherman.

TRUE

Example: [Collected via email, February 2015]



On facebook there’s a photo posted of a man with a HUGE fish… looks like a catfish. I believe it’s photoshopped…can you verify this?



Origins: On 19 February 2015, fisherman Dino Ferrari reeled in an enormous 280-pound catfish from the Po Delta in Italy:

The above-displayed photograph, which was posted by Ferrari’s sponsor Sportex Italia on their Facebook page, quickly went viral on social media sites and left many viewers in a state of disbelief.

While this single photo may have been hard to believe on its own, Sportex Italia provided several additional photos of Ferrari’s catch:







According to Sportex Italia, Dino Ferrari’s enormous catfish was measured at 2.67 meters (approximately 8 feet, 9 inches) and weighed 127 kg (about 280 pounds). While this is certainly an impressive catch (and possibly a record for a catfish caught with a rod and reel), it is not a world record catch. According to Heartland Outdoors, that honor goes to a 297-lb. catfish pulled out of the River Po in 2010: