Video: Massive 450-Pound Catfish Stranded In Shallow Waters Rescued

Dozens of villagers in Thailand teamed up to rescue a massive catfish that was stranded in shallow waters. A video of the incident, which took place in the coastal province Phatthalung, southern Thailand, on Monday, shows the 450-pound swamp fish struggling in the waters.

The Mekong giant catfish, a critically endangered species, washed up into a tiny pound after last month's heavy rain in the region, media reports said Thursday. The water subsided Monday and residents spotted the creature thrashing in the shallow water.

Local residents, who nicknamed the fish "Swamp King," teamed up and used a giant net to haul it out of the water. They later loaded it onto a motorbike trailer before racing over two miles to set it free near its original stretch of water. According to reports, the rescue operation took more than six hours due to the size of the fish.

"This is a natural fish that was left in the marshes of the village in 1991. We call it the swamp king. It's like a monster," Resident Khun Sook-tong, from the Phatthalung district, said according to the Daily Mail. "At the end of November, continuing to the beginning of December this year, rain made the swamps overflow. There was more rain this year than ever before... It's expected that the fish escaped from one swamp and went into another, about 3km (1.8 miles) from the village."

"I found it on December 12 but at the time was not able to handle it. So on Monday a lot of people came to help and it took sixes hours to release the fish to its original home," he said.

The fish, known as the Mekong giant catfish, is a large freshwater fish native to the Mekong river basin and its tributaries in Southeast Asia and China. The catfish, which is classed by conservationists as critically endangered due to overfishing, can grow up to 10 feet in length and weigh more than 600 pounds.

Watch the video below: