Least ConcernChannel Catfish
Ictalurus punctatus
3 countries30 parks4 dive sites
Species group · Bony fish
WAnimals has 4 species of catfish, spread across 4 families (Ariidae, Bagridae, Ictaluridae, Malapteruridae).
Ranges calculated from the profiles that record the figure, not from all 4.
Each one has its own full profile. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.
No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.
Recorded in 33 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:
It is covered in the sense of taste. Its taste buds are not only in the mouth: they line the barbels, the lips, the fins and practically all of the skin, with tens of thousands spread over the body. It is, literally, a swimming tongue.
From
That lets it locate food in murky water and at night without seeing it, following a chemical trail just as a dog follows a scent.
From
It is the mainstay species of freshwater aquaculture in the United States, with an industry worth billions of dollars in the southern states.
From
Its barbels are covered in taste buds: it literally tastes the water and the bottom to find food in complete darkness.
From
It is one of the most commercially valuable catfish in southern Asia, and its population has fallen because of dams that cut off its spawning migrations.
From
It is one of the largest catfish in the Indian subcontinent: it reaches a metre and a half.
From
Its electric organ, derived from the pectoral musculature, wraps around almost the whole body and produces discharges of several hundred volts.
·
From
Its eyes are very small and it hunts and navigates almost entirely by its electrical discharges.
From