Species IUCN · Least Concern (LC)

Blue Catfish

Ictalurus furcatus, (Valenciennes, 1840)

brackishfreshwater

About Blue Catfish

The blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) is a large species of North American catfish, reaching a length of 65 in (170 cm) and a weight of 143 lb (65 kg). The continent's largest catfish, it can live to 20 years, with a typical fish being between 25–46 in (64–117 cm) and 30–70 lb (14–32 kg). Native distribution is primarily in the Mississippi River and Louisiana drainage systems, including the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Arkansas Rivers, the Des Moines River in south-central Iowa, the Rio Grande, and south along the Gulf Coast to Belize and Guatemala.

An omnivorous predator, it has been introduced in a number of reservoirs and rivers, notably the Santee Cooper lakes of Lake Marion and Lake Moultrie in South Carolina, the James River in Virginia, Powerton Lake in Pekin, Illinois, and Lake Springfield in Springfield, Illinois. It is also found in some lakes in Florida.

The blue catfish can tolerate brackish water, and thus can colonize along inland waterways of coastal regions. It is considered invasive in some areas, particularly the Albemarle Sound and Chesapeake Bay.

Appearance

Blue catfish are often misidentified as channel catfish. Blue catfish are heavy bodied, blueish gray in color, and have a dorsal hump. The best way to tell the difference between a channel catfish and a blue catfish is to count the number of rays on the anal fin. A blue catfish has 30–36 rays, whereas a channel catfish has 25–29. Blue catfish also have barbels, a deeply forked tail, and a protruding upper jaw.

While adult blue catfish usually only grow to around two feet (0.61 m) they have been seen to grow up to at least five feet (1.5 m) in length and even weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kg).

Diet

The blue catfish is an opportunistic predator, eating any species of fish it can take (including cannibalism), along with insects, crawfish, crabs, freshwater mussels, clams, worms, frogs, and other readily available aquatic food sources.

The species is noted for taking injured fish beneath marauding schools of striped bass in open water in reservoirs, and feeding on wounded baitfish that have been washed through dam spillways or power-generation turbines. It is one of the few species of fish in the Mississippi River basin able to eat adult Asian carp.

Where to see it

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