Let's learn more with helpful links..

http://www.environment.gov.au/erin/search.php?query=freshwater+species+conservation

The freshwater giants

It is said that the largest freshwater fish in the world lives, of course, in the largest freshwater river in the world - the Amazon River in South America. Arapaima, also known locally as Pirarucu, Arapaima gigas are believed to be the largest, exclusively fresh water fish in the world. They have been found to reach a length of 15 ft/4m and can weigh up to 440lbs/200kg. And yes, for you smartypants out there, sturgeon are even larger than this, but they are not exclusively freshwater fish. Sturgeon spend most of their lives at sea, or in brackish water, and only swim into freshwater rivers to spawn. Another impressively large freshwater fish that was recently caught seems to have blown the Arapaima record out of the water - the Giant Mekong catfish (Pangasius gigas). This giant catfish inhabits the waters of the Mekong River in China, which flows southward into Southeast Asia. This fish is found as far south as Cambodia and Thailand where it is known as Pla Buk, which means simply "huge fish".The dimensions of these catfish are very impressive, with the largest supposedly growing up to 10ft/3m and weighing up to 660lbs/300kg.The European wels (Silurus glanis) is the largest of the catfish family, growing to 16.6ft/5 m, and weighing as much as 726lbs/330 kg.

Source(s): http://www.extremescience.com/BiggestFreshwaterFish.htm

My Guru of Eco-friendship

He has never been a formal teacher of mine, but... I have studied in more than 13 educational institutions... in India and overseas. Prof.Sobindran has never been my teacher in any of them. With utmost respect I recall some of the outstanding teachers who taught me (rather helped me learn). I have never been a student of Zamorins Guruvayurappan College... But Prof. Sobindran is one of my four great teachers (Gurus).

I came to know about him through my brother Fasalul Haque who was a student of his. Ever since I met and talked to him, I've been under his spell... Even at this very moment... while wandering on the shores of the Pacific Ocean pondering over means to save some of the nearly extinct freshwater species of my homeland... I adore and model my great teacher who has never taught me a formal lesson.... In my quest for knowledge and 'means' I have been wandering around... different states of my beautiful India... Saudi Arabia... UAE... Oman... Maldives... Thailand.... and now in Australia... wherever I am, I keep in touch with him... seek his advice... We worked together to fight pollution in the city of Calicut and building check-dams in the suburbs.... He has always been an inspiration!

An ideal teacher is not the one who teaches you your lessons and get paid for it... but the one who ignites your engine and sends you skyrocketing up to the boundless space to see things for yourself and learn yourself... 'To follow knowledge like a sinking star... beyond the utmost bound of human thought...' Prof. Sobindran is a star which shines in a distinct corner of the firmament.

I wish I could fly back in time and space!!

The sweet recollections of the childhood are beautifully blended in the herb-smelling breeze that sweeps gently over Chelavoor and the neighborhood…. The pleasant darkness of Thurayil Kotta, under the canopy created by the thick foliage of the tall trees….. screeching monkeys bungee-diving on the dangling vines…. The three ‘makkanis’ (teashops) known by their ‘famous’ proprietors… Bawukka’s of 6/3, Bichalikka’s of 6/4 (there were two Bichalikkas… the old and the new) and Itchappa’s of 7…. After Sub’h prayer at Pulikkil masjid…walkijng in either direction…east or southwest… a black tea with a piece of ‘puttu’(steamed rice cake) made crunchy with a crushed pappodum…. It tasted heaven compared to the McDonalds, KFC or whatever!

There was a time when my people lived in harmony with our mother nature... We felt the lives of every animate and inanimate object around us. We lived adhering to the fact that plants, animals, birds, fish, other organisms and micro-organisms were the building blocks of our serene and tranquil existence. Whatever our religious faiths were, we realised love and care for the living nature is essential for our social, physical and spiritual growth.

We woke up to a new daylight hearing the cacophonous clattering of the crows in the backyard. Pulling water with an areca leaf ‘bucket’ from the deep well, and brushing teeth with burnt husks… listening to a cuckoo’s song… mimicking and teasing the bird…. Even now thinking of those sweet days brings back beautiful memories… It touches the soul… sends a wave of inexplicable feeling… ‘Whither is gone that visionary gleam? Where is it now that vision and the dream?’