Catfish Order

Channel Catfish

Catfish farming is a sizeable industry in the U.S. where the Channel Cat dominates. Most catfish are grown (and consumed) in the Southern States but they are widely available in the rest of North America. The photo specimen weighed 4 pounds 1-3/8 ounces (factory cleaned) and was 24 inches long.   Details & Cooking.

Bullhead

Bullheads are a variety of American freshwater catfish that inhabits slow moving backwaters with soft bottoms. They differ from most catfish in having squared off tails and being relatively small in size.

These fish can grow to over 24 inches and nearly 8 pounds, but are commonly about 10 inches and 1 pound (A. natalis a little smaller). A. melas has been introduced to Europe where it forms dense stunted populations, making it rather unpopular. These fish tolerate very adverse conditions, so it's unlikely they'll be able to get rid of them now. The photo specimen, probably A. melas or a hybrid, was 12-1/2 inches long and weighed 1 pound 4-1/2 ounces.   Details & Cooking.

Flathead Catfish

A very large Mississippi catfish noted mainly as a sport fish but pretty good eating too. Details & Cooking.   Illustration by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service = public domain.

Blue Catfish

The largest Mississippi catfish and the second best North American catfish for eating, after the closely related Channel Catfish. Details & Cooking.   Illustration by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service = public domain.

Vietnamese Catfish

On the Internet, there are more outright lies about these fish than just about any other food item - lies spread mainly by unethical catfish farmers. Faced with competition, these farmers chose smear campaigns and political manipulation rather than improve their methods to compete. These catfish are very different from American catfish and require extensive preparation to be marketable here, so for some time only frozen fillets were being sent to North America. By late 2013, whole fish started appearing in the Asian and Philippine markets here. Fillets may range from 2 ounces to over 11 ounces, sold in bags of a single size.

Two varieties are widely farmed, Basa (P. pangasius) and Swai / Tra (P. hypophthalmus), but what is shipped to North America is mostly Swai. Basa is preferred in Vietnam, but, since American buyers don't care, the faster growing Swai is shipped. Swai fillets are thinner and a little coarser than Basa.   Details and Cooking

Walking Catfish

This air breathing catfish quickly becomes a pest in subtropical regions, especially since it can travel fairly long distances over land from one body of water to another. Brought to Florida for fish farming, it escaped and is now notorious for invading fish farms and eating all the fish. Native to Southeast Asia, it can grow to over 18 inches and over 2-1/2 pounds but the photo specimen was 17 inches and 1-1/2 pounds. Hybrids with the North African variety can be much larger, and that variety itself can grow to 120 pounds.   Details and Cooking

African Sharptooth Catfish

This large air breathing catfish is native through most of Africa and the Middle East. It can grow to 5 feet 7 inches and weigh over 130 pounds. Farming this fish in Africa has proven so successful it has been taken to Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and India, so it will probably soon show up in the Asian fish markets here in Los Angeles. It is fast growing, spawns easily, can live on agricultural waste and in high density fish ponds. This fish fetches a premium price in many countries because it can be sold live, just kept in a basket of wet straw. See Walking Catfish for Details and Cooking.   Photo by W.A. Djatmiko distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.

Sheatfish

This fish can grow to nearly 24 inches, but the photo specimen was 16 inches and weighed 14 ounces. They are also sold in a juvenile state. They are caught wild and farmed, IUCN rated LC (Least Concern).   Details & Cooking.

Pabda

This fish is found in rivers of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Burma, and is particularly popular in the cuisines of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It can grow to 11 inches, but is more commonly around 6 inches. IUCN Red listed NT (Near Threatened).   Details & Cooking.   Photo by Balaram Mahaider distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Attribution Required..

Mystusfish

Native to the Mekong (Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) and Chao Phraya (Thailand) river basins of Southeast Asia, these fish can grow to a shade over 5 inches long. They often form schools of both species, but M. mysticetus can be told apart because you can see it's eyes from the underside, and M. multiradiatus has a rounder anal fin. These are a well known fish in Vietnam, where they are harvested when the rice paddies start to dry and they head for the river.   Details & Cooking.

Turkistan Catfish

This catfish is native from the Indus River drainage in Pakistan east to Western China. It is well known from the rivers of Central Asia, and has been featured on a Kyrgyztani stamp. This fish can grow to 9.5 inches, but is commonly 6 inches long, and prefers fast moving rivers. There are four other Glyptosternon Catfish in the region, but this is the only one I've found any information on. Illustration by Francis Day, copyright expired.