Blue catfish OdySea Aquarium🐟

Photo: RatioTile · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesSiluriformesIctaluridae
Fish

🐟Blue catfish

Ictalurus furcatus (Valenciennes, 1840)

The blue catfish 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.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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None yet
Photos
2
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ half your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2013.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
37 kg
Body length
1.65 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
21 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Blue catfish

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
37 kgrecord 68 kg · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
1.65 mmaximum recorded
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Maximum lifespan
21 yearsrecord 21 years · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
3.41
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 3.41 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
harmless
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
38 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Blue catfish yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›orderSiluriformes
  4. ›familyIctaluridae
  5. ›genusIctalurus
  6. ›speciesIctalurus furcatus
Full lineage
  1. superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
  2. suborderSiluroidei
  3. familyIctaluridae
  4. genusIctalurus
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
  7. classActinopteri
  8. subclassNeopterygii
  9. superorderCharaciphysae
  10. orderSiluriformes
  11. suborderSiluroidei
  12. familyIctaluridae
  13. genusIctalurus
More

More about the Blue catfish

In other languages
שפמנון כחול (he), Poisson-chat bleu (fr), Ictalurus furcatus (nl), 长鳍真𫚔 (zh), Ictalurus furcatus (ca), Blauer Katzenwels (de) … and 15 more languages
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