The Ictaluridae, sometimes called ictalurids, are a family of

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

native to

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, where they are an important food source and sometimes fished for sport. The family includes about 51 species, some commonly known as bullheads, madtoms,

channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

, and blue catfish.

Taxonomy

The family Ictaluridae is strongly supported as a

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

group. It is closely related to the Asian family Cranoglanididae. These two families are

sister taxa In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

in the superfamily Ictaluroidea. Though the family includes three genera of blind, subterranean, and troglobitic catfishes, '' Trogloglanis'', ''

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

'', and '' Prietella'', none of these three genera is closely related. Instead, ''Satan'' is closely related to ''Pylodictis'', ''Prietella'' to ''Noturus'', and ''Trogloglanis'' possibly to ''Ictalurus'', although it may not be closely related to any of the other ictalurids. ''Ameiurus'' is sister to a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English ter ...

formed by ''Satan'', ''Pylodictis'', ''Noturus'', and ''Prietella''.

Distribution and habitat

Ictalurids originate from North America from southern

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. Both bullheads and madtoms tend to be found in small streams and ponds, but are also known in larger bodies of water.

Channel catfish The channel catfish (''Ictalurus punctatus'') is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, the ...

, bullheads, and madtoms are "bottom feeders" with widely varied diets that include scavenging.

Notable species

* Blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus * Tadpole madtom *

Brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (' ...

* Yellow bullhead *

Black bullhead The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish (''Ameiurus melas'') is a species of bullhead catfish. Like other bullhead catfish, it has the ability to thrive in waters that are low in oxygen, brackish, turbid and/or very warm. It also has barbels ...

* Widemouth blindcat

Description

Ictalurid species have four pairs of barbels (commonly referred to as "whiskers" as applied to catfish). Their skin does not have any scales. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

and

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

s usually possess a spine. The dorsal fin usually has six soft rays. The

palate The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separ ...

is toothless except in the fossil genus '' Astephus''. The genera ''Trogoglanis'', ''Satan'', and ''Prietella'' include four species of blind catfishes. They have the ability to inflict painful stings with venomous spines embedded in their fins. One of the largest species is the blue catfish, ''Ictalurus furcatus'', specimens of which have been found to weigh over . The maximum length is in the blue catfish and the flathead catfish. The bullheads, though, are small catfish which at maturity often weigh less than 0.5 kg (1 lb), while the madtoms (genus ''Noturus'') are in general much smaller.

Relationship to humans

The North American catfish has acquired an association with American

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

folklore which exceeds its place as a mere food fish. The image of cane-pole

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

for catfish at a proverbial lazy stream has become a stand-by of southern Americana. In some areas, the bullhead is seen as a desirable quarry, for its fighting qualities exceed its size. In other areas, it is seen as a nuisance fish due to its efficient bait-stealing qualities.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q578666 Freshwater fish of North America Catfish families Taxa named by Theodore Gill