catfish - Southern tradition, Other catfish

Any of about 28 families of typically elongate bottom-living fishes; flattened head, smooth skin, long barbels around mouth; habits often sluggish, nocturnal; several important as food fish and in the aquarium trade; includes freshwater families Siluridae, Bagridae, Clariidae, Ictaluridae, and marine Ariidae, Plotosidae.

iCatfish
Eel-tail catfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Siluriformes
Families
Akysidae Amblycipitidae Amphiliidae Ariidae Aspredinidae Astroblepidae Auchenipteridae Austroglanididae Bagridae Callichthyidae Cetopsidae Chacidae Clariidae Claroteidae Cranoglanididae Diplomystidae Doradidae Erethistidae Heptapteridae Ictaluridae Lacantuniidae Loricariidae Malapteruridae Mochokidae Nematogenyidae Pangasiidae Parakysidae Pimelodidae Plotosidae Pseudopimelodidae Schilbeidae Scoloplacidae Siluridae Sisoridae Trichomycteridae Conorhynchos (incertae sedis) Ancharias (incertae sedis)

Catfish (order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of fish. All catfish, except members of Malapteruridae (electric catfish), possess a strong, hollow, bonified leading ray on their dorsal and pectoral fins, through which a stinging protein can be delivered if the fish is irritated.

Catfish, which have a sweet, mild flesh, are important as food fish throughout the world. However, the fish must be labeled as "Basa fish" (instead of catfish) due to measures intended to protect the American catfish farming industry.

There is a large and growing ornamental fish trade, with hundreds of species of catfish, especially the genus Corydoras, being a popular component of many aquaria.

Size

Catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest, the giant Mekong catfish in Southeast Asia and the longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the candiru, Vandellia cirrhosa.

The wels catfish, Silurus glanis, is the only native catfish species of Europe, besides the much smaller related Aristotle catfish found in Greece.

A very large wels catfish was caught by Kevin Maddocks on August 6, 1999, recorded at 91.62 kg (202 lb).

In June, 2005, researchers named the 37th family of catfish, Lacantuniidae, only the third new family of fish distinguished in the last 70 years (others being the coelacanth in 1938 and the megamouth shark in 1983).

Southern tradition

In the southeast of the United States, catfish is an extremely popular food. The fish, mostly channel catfish and blue catfish, are found in most waterways in the region.

A popular sport among some in these areas is noodling, which involves catching catfish using only one's bare hands by luring a catfish to bite the noodler's hand and then grabbing the fish's gills.

Other catfish

Iridescent Shark Channel catfish Redtail catfish