Species: Ictalurus punctatus
Channel Catfish
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Siluriformes
Family
Ictaluridae
Genus
Ictalurus
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - North American Freshwater Catfishes
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Siluriformes - Ictaluridae - Ictalurus - Some authors have included I. LUPUS in this species. The ICTALURUS PUNCTATUS group in Mexico is in need of revision (Lundberg 1992). See Lundberg (1992) for a synthesis of recent work on the systematic relationships of ictalurid catfishes.
Ecology and Life History
Habitat Type Description
Freshwater
Migration
true - true - true - May travel hundreds of miles upstream or downstream in rivers (Becker 1983).
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Bottom feeder. Young eat mainly small invertebrates; as they grow, fishes and crayfish become increasingly important, though individuals of all sizes eat abundant aquatic insects. Large fish are mainly piscivorous (Moyle 1976). Also ingests plant material. In Arizona, preyed heavily on reintroduced razorback suckers (Marsh and Brooks 1989).
Reproduction Comments
Spawns in late spring and summer. Eggs hatch in 5-10 days. Males guard and fan water over nest during incubation and stay with young after hatching. Schools of young may persist several weeks after departure from nest. Sexually mature in 2-8 years. Females spawn once annually (Scott and Crossman 1973, Moyle 1976).
Ecology Comments
May travel hundreds of miles upstream or downstream in rivers (Becker 1983). Through competition and/or hybridization, has eliminated I. LUPUS from most of original range in New Mexico (Sublette et al. 1990).
Length
127
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-09-19
Global Status Last Changed
1996-09-19
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Native range includes the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Hudson Bay (Red River drainage), and Missouri-Mississippi river basins from southern Quebec to southern Manitoba and Montana, south to Gulf of Mexico; possibly also native on Atlantic and Gulf slopes from Susquehanna River to Neuse River, and from Savannah River to Lake Okeechobee, and west to northern Mexico and eastern New Mexico; widely introduced throughout most of the United States(Page and Burr 2011).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)