Mo Ganji: Siamese Giant Carp | Siamesischer Riesenkarpfen | Catlocarpio siamensis | No. 197/250 from work group 8/99

Mo Ganji turns his attention toward the Siamese giant carp — a large freshwater fish historically inhabiting major river systems of Southeast Asia — by allowing the single line to move toward essence rather than mass or magnitude. The line gathers the being into a reduced coherence, setting aside size, strength and rarity so that presence can surface without emphasis. In Ganji’s understanding, the line is not fixed to the fish alone; it remains open, acknowledging that every figure is also a human concept provisionally assigned to a living form.

Catlocarpio siamensis is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Once widespread in the Mekong, Chao Phraya and Mae Klong river basins, the species has undergone dramatic population declines. Today, it survives only in small, scattered remnants, and confirmed wild sightings are increasingly rare.

The principal threats include overfishing, dam construction that disrupts migration routes, habitat degradation, and changes to river flow and sediment regimes. Because the Siamese giant carp depends on long-distance migration and specific spawning conditions, river fragmentation has been particularly destructive. Slow growth and late maturity further limit the species’ ability to recover.

Ganji’s single line opens a space in which the carp can be encountered beyond enormity or cultural significance. It allows attention to rest on a life shaped by movement through open waters, suggesting how beings evolved for continuity along vast rivers become fragile once those currents are interrupted and reduced to managed segments.