Seven-foot-long fish is 'largest ever seen in Manchester'

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A large grouper has been labelled the "largest fish ever seen in Manchester".

The 2.1m long fish went on display at a fishmongers in the city.

It weighs 192kg.

The huge aquatic animal was caught in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles on Saturday.

It took seven men to bring it aboard, and is the third largest fish of its kind on record to be caught.

The grouper was flown in to fish wholesalers Hodgkinsons and bought for £1,000 (NZ$1,757) by Direct Fisheries.

After they proudly display the large grouper, they will cut it up into portions of meat.

The meat is estimated to be worth £5,000 (NZ$8,788).

Owner Anthony Griffin, 39, told the Manchester Evening News that in angling terms it was a chance to really "put Manchester on the map".

"It's been a bit of a whirlwind as we only found we were getting it on Saturday.

"But we just thought, Manchester is number one at everything, music, sport.

"And this was a chance to make history and really put ourselves on the map.

"The size of it has obviously blown us all away.

"It's a particularly exotic fish so most people in the UK probably won't be familiar with it.

"But it's used in a really wide range of foods and we're expecting a lot of demand from restaurants and different people."

The largest ever grouper on record was in Florida in 1961 and weighed 680lbs (308kgs).

The second, weighing in at 436lbs (198kgs), was caught in the Gulf of Mexico in 1985.

This story was originally published on the Telegraph.