This is a photo of river catfish (Pangasiaodon hypophthalmus) on the banks of the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia. The river catfish is one species of large fish that we purchase, tag, and release as part of Mekong Fish Conservation Project, funded by the National Geographic Conservation Trust. Normally, fishers contact us when they have live fish, and we then purchase, tag, and release the fish back to the river. Every once in while, we come across dead fish. In this case, I purchased the fish for a photo. When I took the fish over to the side of the river, I was immediately surrounded by childrenthey know that if I have dead fish then there's a good chance I'll give the fish to them after I'm done taking samples and pictures. For this photo, I handed the fish over to the children, asked them to hold the fish as high as they could, and then snapped away with my camera.

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