North American Catfish Family – Ictaluridae

There are currently FIVE members of the North American Catfish or Ictaluridae Family, all three from Mexico’s freshwater systems,  presented in this website:

FROM THE FRESHWATER SYSTEMS (5):

The fish of the North American Catfish or Ictaluridae Family that are also known as the Bullhead Catfishes, are known in Mexico as bagres de agua dulce. Globally, there are forty-nine members of the Ictaluridae Family, that include blue catfish, bullheads, channel catfish, and madtoms, that have been placed in seven genera and are found circumglobally, of which fifteen are found in Mexico’s freshwater systems. They are the largest family of freshwater fishes endemic to North America.

They have traditional “catfish” like bodies and are silvery gray dorsally, transitioning to white ventrally. They vary in size from 5 cm (2 inches) to over 1.6 m (5 feet 2 inches) in length and over 60 kg (132 lbs) in weight. They are characterized by four pairs of barbels around the mouth – four on the chin, two on the snout and one on each corner of the mouth, scaleless smooth skin, with an adipose fin, a dorsal fin that has 6 rays, and pelvic fins on the abdomen. They have dorsal and pectoral fins that have venomous spines that can inflict painful stings to humans. Their adipose fin is small; their anal fin has a long base and is located on the underside of the fish; their dorsal fin is located on the back and has a single sharp first spine; their pectoral fins have one to three spines with a poison gland capable of inflecting pain in humans.

They can be found from mountain brooks to large rivers and have the ability to survive low oxygen water and low light environments. They are active nocturnal bottom feeders that consume crustaceans, fish and insects by scavenging. The North American Catfish is found in a wide variety of habitats that range from small streams and ponds to rivers and large lakes. They are traditional bottom feeders that eat varied diets sourced by scavenging. Reproduction is oviparous and normally monogamous, with males constructing small nests under logs and riverbanks. The females deposit eggs in the nests and the males exclude the females to avoid cannibalization of their eggs. The eggs hatch within a week and the young form schools that are guarded by males for a short period. They have life spans of up to twenty-five years.

The North American Catfish is found in Mexico within the entire freshwater drainage systems of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Atlantic Ocean, and In a limited number of the larger watersheds on the Pacific Coast.

From a conservation perspective the North American Catfish is considered to be of Least Concern with stable and widely distributed populations. Some of the larger species, i.e. the Blue and Channel Catfishes, are very popular sports fish, known for their fighting abilities, and also considered to be excellent food fish and sold commercially. The larger fish are also raised by aguaculture extensively. One of the family members, the channel catfish, is the most common farm-raised fish in the United States. In some areas they are considered to be nuisance fish as they are efficient bait stealers. They date to the Late Eocene period, 56,000,000 to 34,000,000 years ago.