The Channel Catfish is a common species in the taxonomic order Siluriformes. The Siluriformes order contains thousands of species of catfish across the globe. This particular species’ closest relatives include the blue catfish, headwater catfish, and more.
You can find this species throughout vast regions of North America. Read on to learn about the Channel Catfish.
Description of the Channel Catfish
This catfish species has an elongated, slightly flattened body. Like many other catfish species, it has soft skin without scales. Its skin is dark colored with a light abdomen. Most adults measure about 20 in. long and weigh 5 lbs. or so. The largest individuals reach about 40 lbs.
Interesting Facts About the Channel Catfish
This species is the most common catfish in North America. Learn what makes this numerous fish so unique, below.
- Sensitive Barbels – Those long whisker-like barbels on this catfish’s face aren’t just for show. The barbels have thousands of taste buds and sensory pores to help them “taste” the water around them and detect prey.
- Taste Buds Galore – The barbels aren’t the only place this fish has taste buds. While you might think of your tongue when you hear the word taste buds, this fish actually has them across its entire body!
- Not Just for Food – The fish use those taste buds for purposes outside of food. They actually taste each other as well. The catfish release pheromones, or special chemicals, to communicate with one another.
- Pheromone Information – When they detect another’s pheromones, a catfish can tell how old they are, their sex, if they are receptive to breeding, and how high they are in the social hierarchy.
Habitat of the Channel Catfish
Like its cousin the blue catfish, the channel cat occupies a wide range of habitat types. It can survive in freshwater, saltwater, and brackish water. However, they usually prefer freshwater habitats. You can find them in lakes, ponds, streams, creeks, reservoirs, and more. They prefer deeper habitats and water bodies with currents.
Distribution of the Channel Catfish
This fish has an incredibly wide distribution, and they are unbelievably common throughout their range. You can find this fish from the east coast all the way to the Midwest United States and into northeast Mexico. Their range runs from Montana to New Mexico and from Maine to Florida.
Humans have also introduced this species to a few regions outside of its native range. You can find populations in parts of Europe, Indonesia, Malaysia, and more.
Diet of the Channel Catfish
This fish is omnivorous, though most of its diet consists of other animals. They eat a wide range of different foods, and feed on just about anything that is edible.
Some of the different types of plants that they eat include algae, seeds, underwater plants, and more. Additionally, some of the prey that they hunt include sunfish, perch, frogs, snails, insects, and more.
Channel Catfish and Human Interaction
Humans utilize this catfish in vast numbers. People catch this fish both recreationally and commercially. People also raise this fish in fish farms in vast numbers. They reproduce readily and in large numbers, and their populations have sustained themselves despite consistent and heavy use. For this reason, the IUCN lists this species as Least Concern.
Domestication
Humans have not domesticated this fish species in any way.
Does the Channel Catfish Make a Good Pet
No, you wouldn’t want to keep this fish as a pet. They reach quite large sizes, and eat just about anything that is small enough to fit in their mouth.
Channel Catfish Care
In aquariums and fish farms, people keep these fish in large tanks and ponds with plenty of space to grow. They thrive on commercially prepared fish foods, live and previously-frozen fish, and shellfish. In fish farms, people raise them to two years of age before harvesting them as food.
Behavior of the Channel Catfish
These fish live solitary lives outside of the breeding season. They hid in caves, holes, and beneath fallen logs during the day. At night they move actively in search of food, making them nocturnal. Though they rest in holes during the day, they do not keep a territory and often migrate throughout a water system.
Reproduction of the Channel Catfish
Pairs begin forming relationships before the breeding season. They nest in holes or crevices to keep their eggs safe and away from the current. The female lays her eggs and the male fertilizes them. Clutches can contain as many as 50,000 eggs!
Afterwards, the male chases the female away and guards the eggs aggressively from intruders. It takes about a week for the eggs to hatch, after which the male continues to guard them. He also burrows beneath the ground to stir up edible particles of food for the young to eat.
FAQs
Channel catfish have a varied diet, and have the largest eyes in the catfish family, as well as specialized taste buds all over their bodies, to help them find food in low visibility water. Usually they are 15 to 24 inches long, but have been caught up to 54 inches and 58 pounds.
What is the description of the channel catfish habitat? ›
Channel catfish live in freshwater rivers, lakes, streams and ponds throughout North America. They are bottom-dwelling, opportunistic carnivores.
What are some interesting facts about the channel catfish? ›
The channel catfish has been called a swimming tongue. They have taste buds spread over their entire body with most around their gills and whiskers. Channel catfish are a popular recreational ?
What is a catfish diet and habitat? ›
Catfishes are generally bottom dwellers, more active by night than by day. Most are scavengers and feed on almost any kind of animal or vegetable matter. All species are egg layers and may exhibit various types of parental care.
What is the main diet of channel catfish? ›
Channel catfish are bottom-feeders and eat a wide variety of foods, including insects, mollusks, crustaceans, snails, snakes, fish and small birds. Younger channel catfish are more omnivorous, eating a balanced variety of plants and small animals.
What kind of habitat do catfish need? ›
Channel catfish thrive in a variety of habitats, from clear, swiftly flowing streams to sluggish rivers, lakes, and ponds. They are bottom dwellers that prefer a substrate of sand and gravel.
How do catfish survive in their habitat? ›
To adapt to its habitat, catfish developed the ability to be able to walk on land with its pectoral fins, so that he can mobilize to a place with higher oxygen levels. Catfish also have a specific gill structure so they can adapt the obligate air breather behavior.
How much do channel catfish eat? ›
According to data from catfish farmers, channel cats in the low-50°F range require one percent of their body weight as food three times per week. When it reaches 70°F, Durick says catfish in captivity need to eat the equivalent of at least 3 percent of their body weight each day, for survival and maximum growth.
How long do channel catfish live? ›
Channel catfish average 16-24 inches in the 2-5 years post stocking. Some individuals will live 15-20 years, grow over 30 inches in length and weigh in excess of 30 pounds.
How fast do channel catfish grow? ›
Feeding is the easiest way to increase catfish growth and production. A six- to eight-inch catfish fingerling can be grown to one pound in six months of regular feeding during the warm weather, whereas it will take two to three years to reach the same size in a non-fed situation.
It does not have scales. Catfish are white to silvery on the undersides shading to grayish blue or olive green to nearly black at the top of the back. Albino Channel catfish are a peach color. Up to eight barbels (whisker-like appendages) are located on the chin or sides of the mouth.
Is catfish high in fat? ›
The typical single serving of U.S. farm-raised catfish contains 105 calories, only 2.9 grams of fat, 50 mg of sodium and 121% of the daily value of your B-12 vitamin. Catfish also contains other nutrients like selenium, phosphorus, and potassium where it provides more than 20% of the daily recommended value.
Do catfish eat at night? ›
Fact: Catfish are active at all hours of the day and night, this includes all three species of catfish. Catfish can easily be caught throughout the day regardless of the season. Catfish eat when they are hungry, not when it gets dark. Myth: If you want to catch flathead catfish, you have to fish at night.
Do channel catfish have teeth? ›
General description: The channel catfish is a comet shaped fish with a forked tail, flat head, barbels (sometimes called whiskers), and smooth skin. Its mouth is wide and flat with bristle-like teeth.
Do catfish eat every day? ›
Most catfish producers feed once a day, 7 days a week during the warmer months. Research has shown feeding twice a day improves growth of fingerlings, but there is no benefit by feeding twice a day for food fish grow out. Feed is typically blown onto the surface of the water using mechanical feeders.
Can you eat catfish on a diet? ›
Paired with its mild flavor and affordable prices, catfish is a fantastic alternative to more expensive meats such as pork. Low in calories. Catfish only has about 98 calories in a 100-gram portion, making it a great choice for people looking after their weight.
What is the habitat of the catfish in Florida? ›
Habitat: The Blue Catfish lives in the main channels and backwaters of medium to large rivers over mud, sand and gravel, and in large-river impoundments. Similar species: The Channel Catfish, I. punctatus, has dark spots on the body, a rounded anal fin with 24-29 rays, and no chambers in the air bladder.
What climate do channel catfish live in? ›
They also tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions. The optimum water temperature for growth is 24–30 oC, but the fish can survive at temperatures from just above freezing to about 38 oC. Growth is reduced at temperatures lower than 18 oC, while feeding activity stops at temperatures below about 10 oC.
Where are channel catfish found? ›
Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are native to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence, and Mississippi-Gulf drainages, from south Quebec and Manitoba and Montana, south to Florida-Texas, including a small part of the Arctic drainage. They are an important sport and commercial fish throughout most of their introduced range.
What is the habitat of a catfish in a pond? ›
Ideal Environment. Channel catfish prefer warmer water (about 60° to 70°F) in areas with little or no currents. They thrive in small and large rivers, reservoirs, natural lakes and ponds. Channel cats are cavity nesters, meaning they lay their eggs in crevices, hollows or debris, to protect them from swift currents.
