Catfish Is A Freshwater Giant. Habits And Features

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Fishing Academy

Catfish is the largest freshwater fish in our reservoirs. There have been many incredible legends about the size of catfish (of course, gigantic ones). Although quite reliable data have come down to us. So LP Sabaneev reports that in 1830 a catfish was caught on the Oder, weighing 400 kilograms! In Russia, as the well-known ichthyologist of that time Kessler testified, in the fifties of the nineteenth century, a catfish was caught in the Dnieper, weighing 18 poods, that is, 295 kilograms.

Of course, in modern times one can only dream of such giants. And yet, from time to time there are reports of catfish catching more than two hundred kilograms. True, having visited the lower reaches of the Volga and the Kuban, where especially large specimens are found, I must say that none of the sports fishermen, or of the fishermen, has ever caught more than 150 kilograms of catfish. And even then it was a few units. But what angler does not dream of catching a giant catfish? Alas, often a dream remains a dream.

But let's return directly to the catfish. According to the same LP Sabaneev: "The appearance of the catfish is extremely original and ugly." And in fact, there is little attractive in the appearance of this fish. The strongly elongated fusiform body is covered with a thick layer of mucus. A characteristic feature of the catfish is a huge head, which makes up about a quarter of the whole body, and a huge mouth, armed with numerous small and very sharp teeth bent inward.

Another feature is three pairs of mustaches: one at the top, two at the bottom. The upper whiskers of the catfish are much longer than the lower ones. They serve as probes for catfish when searching for food at night. The eyes, yellow with black pupils, are incommensurably small (in comparison with the head and mouth) and are strongly shifted towards the upper lip.

The powerful tail, strongly flattened from the sides, occupies more than half of the body. There is only one small dark fin on the back. But the anal fin is very long and almost connects with the rounded tail. The back of an adult catfish is dark brown or black, the sides are blackish-green or light brown with olive spots. The belly is white, mottled with small dark specks. Young catfish are colored lighter and brighter than adult catfish, and catfish-patriarchs of the underwater world are entirely coal-black.

In the old days they said: "Catfish is an important master, he likes to live in large chambers." And this is so: he always chooses the deepest places: whirlpools, pits, steep banks with erosion, steep slopes, near which the channel is littered with stones, snags, flooded trees. Catfish is one of the most sedentary fish, and therefore he very rarely undertakes long journeys. And only in spring, with the onset of the flood, the catfish temporarily leaves its "native" place and leads a wandering lifestyle. It rises upstream, entering the floodplains of rivers, their tributaries, where it stays until the recession and clarity of water (this fish is very sensitive to turbidity). Here, for the most part, he spawns, after which he rolls down to his permanent camps.

It feeds on catfish mainly on fish, frogs, crayfish, worms, molluscs, and does not neglect carrion. In a word, he is attracted by all living things in the water. Probably, the omnivorousness and impressive size of the catfish gave rise to incredible rumors about their aggressiveness and gluttony. Our great fisherman L. P. Sabaneev could not resist the temptation to mention these qualities of catfish. Here is what he wrote: “… Exterminating a large number of ducklings, goslings, as well as adult water birds, they (catfish) often drown swimming dogs, even calves. There are several known examples that large catfish dragged and drowned bathing children. And out of hunger they even rush to rotten rags and even grab the linen from the hands of the women rinsing it."

Along with these, obviously anecdotal, statements, there is another rather widespread misconception that the catfish is an ambush. That is, he hunts the way, for example, pike, zander do it. Here is what L. P. Sabaneev writes about this, and modern authors honestly quote him: “… (Catfish) hides behind some kind of shelter and puts out only his long mustache: they move in the water and attract fish, which takes them for worms and catfish comes across for breakfast."

Of course, it happens that the catfish grabs the gape of the fish, but he cannot move his mustache. Ichthyologists have proved that there must be special muscles for movement inside the mustache (and there it is not). In addition, the body of the catfish is not adapted to sharp throws and jerks. Therefore, instead of an ambush, the catfish prefers an active search for food.

A very fine sense of smell and an extremely sensitive lateral line help him in this. It was found that with the help of smell, catfish not only learns about the presence of potential prey, but also distinguishes between its species. And he is even able to assess her physiological state: she is sick, injured or exhausted. And the worse her condition, the more interest she is in the catfish.