A team of five fishermen — Bikash Burman, Rahul Burman, Saikat Burman, Kamalesh Burman and Kalipad Barr — from Sonagaon village of Gosaba island, South 24-Parganas, trapped a Bhola fish “taller than a man” from a creek linked to Kapura river on Saturday afternoon.

The fish, which was 7 feet long and weighs 78.4 kilos was later brought to the Canning market for auction in the evening.

A Calcutta-based fish trading company bought it for Rs 37,53,811.

Mehaboob Gazi

“We had never seen such a giant fish in this market. The fish was sold at the rate of Rs.47,880 per kilo in the auction,” said Prabhat Mondal, a fish trader in Canning.

Mehaboob Gazi

A fish exporter claimed that the giant fish, colloquially known as “Telia Bhola” has immense medicinal value.

“The blubber (primary fat storage) of this fish has huge demand in the foreign markets. That’s why it is exported for medicinal purpose,” the trader added.