What does a mud catfish look like

Other Common Name:

Índice Show

Introduction
Fascinating Facts
Identification
Channel Catfish:
Flathead Catfish:
For Further Reading
Conservation Status
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Did You Know?
Sources and Additional Information

Shovelhead Cat; Yellow Cat; Mud Cat; Goujon; Appaluchion; Johnnie Cat

Family:

Ictaluridae (bullhead catfishes) in the order Siluriformes (catfishes)

Description:

The flathead catfish has a broad, flattened head with small eyes on top. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper jaw. It occurs in most of the large streams of Missouri, preferring places with a slow current.

Missouri catfishes have smooth, scaleless skin and barbels (“whiskers”) around the mouth. The flathead catfish is distinguished by its broad, flattened head with small eyes on top, and the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper jaw. The tail fin is mostly squared off, with a slight notch (it is not deeply forked), and the anal fin is rounded, with 14–17 rays. The body is often strongly mottled with brown or black.

The back and sides are pale yellow to light brown or olive, mottled with dark brown or black (mottling is often poorly developed in adults from turbid water). The belly is pale yellow or creamy white. The tail fin is dark brown or black except for the upper lobe. The other fins are similar in color to nearby parts of the body. Young individuals are darker and more boldly marked than adults.

Similar species: There are 17 species of catfishes in Missouri. This is the only one with all the following characteristics:

The adipose fin is a free lobe, widely separate from the tail fin.
The tail fin is not forked.
The lower jaw projects far beyond the upper jaw (except in the smallest young).
The upper tip of the tail fin is lighter in color than the rest of the fin.
The pad of teeth in the upper jaw has a backward extension on each side.

Size:

Adult length: commonly 15–45 inches; width: 1–45 pounds. Maximum is about 100 pounds.

Missouri has more than 200 kinds of fish, more than are found in most neighboring states. Fishes live in water, breathe with gills, and have fins instead of legs. Most are covered with scales. Most fish in Missouri “look” like fish and could never be confused with anything else. True, lampreys and eels have snakelike bodies — but they also have fins and smooth, slimy skin, which snakes do not.

A Channel Catfish (top) and Flathead Catfish (bottom)

Fish of the Mississippi River

Introduction

If the Mississippi River has an iconic fish, it is probably the catfish. Two of these whiskered species patrol the depths of the river here. The smaller channel catfish favor deep pools, moving into riffles in evening to feed. Flathead catfish also like deep pools but prefer those with log jams or other dense cover. Flathead catfish can reach 29-30 inches in length, compared with the channel cats that average 10-20 inches. Although tolerant of turbid (cloudy) water and warm water temperatures, catfish prefer clean streams and require well oxygenated water.

Question: What do catfish like about living here?

Channel catfish feed on just about anything they can find. Anglers often go after them with smelly baits such as fermented cow’s liver. Flathead catfish are fish eaters, using sense of smell and vibration to hunt down their prey. Successful angers generally use live fish or gobs of nightcrawlers to attract flatheads.

Both species use nesting cavities, such as hollow logs, log jams, and undercut banks for its eggs. Male flatheads guard their eggs and fans water over them until they hatch. In big-river wintering areas, channel cat and flathead may be found side by side.

Catfish are sought by both commercial fishermen and sport anglers.

Fascinating Facts

Both channel and flathead catfish have sharp barbed spines on their dorsal and pectoral fins. When alarmed, they erect those spines perpendicular to the body. Being poked by these spines is painful and the mucus that covers the spines may cause infections at the wound site.
A catfish’s whiskers, technically called barbels, are sensitive to touch and covered with taste buds.
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area’s mascot is a flathead catfish named Freddie.

Identification

Both flathead and channel catfish have bullet-shaped head, long body, smooth scaleless skin, and eight barbels around the mouth (four on the upper jaw and four below). Size, tail, jaw, and color distinguish flathead from channel catfish.

Channel Catfish:

10-20 inches average length
Forked tail
Overbite (upper jaw hangs over lower jaw)
Gray to silver back and sides, white belly

Flathead Catfish:

20-30 inches average length
Square tail
Underbite (lower jaw protrudes beyond upper jaw)
Usually mottled yellow or brown, belly cream or yellow

Present in Park: Yes

Habitat: Deep pools of large rivers or impoundments

MN Status: Sport fish (both flathead and channel species)

For Further Reading

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 2017. “Catfish Biology and Identification.” Accessed May 5. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish/catfish/biology.html

Invasive

3 to 4 feet in length; can weigh more than 100 pounds

Habitat

Prefer deep streams, rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs, where the water is cloudy and currents are slow

Range

Native to rivers and lakes in the lower Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin. They were introduced to the James River as a recreational catch in the late 1960s and are now found in low-salinity tributaries throughout the watershed.

Diet

Blue crabs, grayfish, eels, worms and other catfish

Lifespan

Average 5 to 22 years; up to 28 years old

Conservation Status

Stable

The flathead catfish has a yellow to purple-brown body that is often mottled with black or brown, with a pale white to yellow belly. Its smooth skin lacks scales. The head of the flathead catfish is wider and flatter than that of other North American catfish species.

It has whisker-like barbels around its mouth, and its lower jaw protrudes further than its upper jaw. The tail fin is slightly notched and may appear square or rounded, unlike the deeply forked tail of the blue catfish or channel catfish. Adults can reach lengths of three to four feet and weigh more than 100 pounds.

Feeding

Flathead catfish are ambush predators that feed at night and wait under cover for prey to cross their path. Adults are opportunistic feeders and exclusively eat other fish. Young flathead catfish prey primarily on insect larvae until they are around four inches in length, at which point their diet expands to include small fish.

Predators

Adult flathead catfish have few natural predators. Their most common predators are members of their own species and humans who fish for them. However, young flathead catfish are sometimes eaten by turtles, larger fish and wading birds such as great blue herons.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Flathead catfish spawn from late May through August, when the water temperature is between 75 degrees and 80 degrees Fahrenheit . Nests are constructed under cover, like logs, stumps, brush piles or rock outcroppings, and can contain up to 100,000 adhesive eggs. Females lay around 1,200 eggs for every pound of bodyweight. Fertilized eggs hatch in six to nine days. The male flathead catfish protects the eggs. Baby flathead catfish form tight schools for several days after hatching before eventually separating.

Adult flathead catfish are solitary creatures and can usually be found near or under fallen trees, logs and brush piles, while young flathead catfish usually prefer shallower water. Adults stay in deeper waters during the day and move into shallower water at night. These fish can live up to 28 years, although most live to be five to 22.

Did You Know?

The flathead catfish's scientific name comes from the Greek word for “mud fish” (Pylodictis) and the Latin word for “olive-colored” (olivaris).
Flathead catfish are a popular recreational catch.
These catfish were introduced to the region in the 1960s, and are now considered an invasive species. Their growing numbers and rapid expansion throughout the region have raised concern about their potential impact on menhaden, blue crabs and other native species that play an important role in our ecosystem and economy.
The Chesapeake Bay Program’s Sustainable Fisheries Goal Implementation Team adopted an Invasive Catfish Policy statement, which outlines the need to control the effects of these nonnative fish. The Goal Team’s Invasive Catfish Task Force released two reports synthesizing what is known about invasive catfish and offering recommendations for managing their spread.