The University of Reno launched an Earth Day expedition into exploring the unexplored deepest pools of the Mekong River in Cambodia last week.
A group of renowned explorers from the university set out with a fleet of submarines to explore depths of up to 75 meters below the surface of Cambodia's Mekong River last week. Despite being a river, the Mekong is home to many deep-sea environments that may be the only refuge for the world's largest freshwater fish and endangered dolphins, according to Nevada Today.
"They are unseen worlds, underappreciated and out of sight," said Zeb Hogan, a Department of Biology fish biologist and project lead of the USAID-funded Wonders of the Mekong project, according to Nevada Today. "The deep pools may harbor new species and could be resting spots for schools of migratory fish, concentrating in advance of their upstream migration over the Khone Falls in neighboring Laos."
The study took place just below the waters of a Ramsar wetland, an area controlled by braided channels, rocky outcrops, flooded forests, sandbars, deep pools, and rapids. It is also home to many of the Mekong's more than 1,000 fish species, including the giant goonch catfish, the rare two-faced carp, and the striped catfish, once a staple food in Cambodia, according to Nevada Today.
"To commemorate Earth Day 2022, and in recognition of the critical importance of the Mekong to people and aquatic life, we will be exploring the depths of the Mekong," Hogan continued. "We are exploring deep in the Mekong, another world – a realm within a hidden realm, a pitch-black space dominated by rare and unusual fish like the Mekong giant stingray and giant catfish."
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