On Oct. 4, Martin Glatz from Duisburg, was trying out a new fish bait when he thought he had caught a fish as big as a “47-inch pike,” when he had a little struggle reeling in his catch.
When he looked down at the water, he saw a bright yellow “glowing” catfish swimming 3 to 4 meters below the surface, and he started to get excited.

“We fell into a state of shock,” Glatz told The Epoch Times. “And I yelled at my brother to have the landing net ready.”

The bright-yellow catfish measured 1.19 meters, and Martin described it as “uniformly bright-orange and beautiful,” calling it a “Mandarin catfish.” After taking its measurements and snapping some photos with the rare-colored fish, Martin and his brother, Owen released it, following fishing regulations, and also allowing it to grow “very big.”

“I have never seen such a catfish before,” Glatz told Live Science. “I am still overwhelmed by it.”

The bright yellow color of the catfish is assumed to be a genetic disorder called leucism, which is caused by a natural color deficiency in animals, though, unlike albinism, their eyes are not affected. The disorder affects mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish, which makes predators see them as easy targets.

According to Field & Stream, a Wels catfish can grow as long as 9 feet and weigh almost 137 kgs. Since they are natives to most parts of Europe, a typical catfish is dark greenish-black, with some bits of yellow spots, says the NOAA.