Species: Pylodictis olivaris
Flathead Catfish
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Siluriformes
Family
Ictaluridae
Genus
Pylodictis
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - North American Freshwater Catfishes
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Siluriformes - Ictaluridae - Pylodictis - are sister groups (Lundberg 1992, which see for a synthesis of recent work on the systematic relationships of ictalurid catfishes.
Ecology and Life History
Habitat Type Description
Freshwater
Migration
false - false - false
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Eats mainly fishes and crustaceans (especially crayfish); may sit-and-wait on bottom or actively forage at night, even in shallow riffles. Adults eats piscivorous; smaller individuals eat fishes and benthic macroinvertebrates; young-of-year eat mainly aquatic insect larvae. (Becker 1983, Trautman 1981, Smith 1979). Adults move from deep water or cover to feed in riffles and pool shallows at night (Lee and Terrell 1987). In Arizona, preyed on reintroduced razorback suckers (Marsh and Brooks 1989).
Reproduction Comments
Spawns in late spring and summer at water temperatures of 22-29 C. Eggs hatch in 6-8 days at 24-28 C. Sexually mature in 3-7 years, depending on conditions. Males attend eggs and fry for up to several days after hatching (Becker 1983, Smith 1979). Oldest reported specimens were 16 and 20 years old.
Ecology Comments
72% of tagged individuals were recovered with 8 km of tagging site in Missouri study (Becker 1983).
Length
141
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-09-19
Global Status Last Changed
1996-09-19
Other Status
DD - Data Deficient - 2008-04-25
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
Native to lower Great Lakes basin and Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio river basins, from western Pennsylvania and southern Ontario (introduced? breeding?; Goodchild 1993) to the White-Little Missouri river system, North Dakota, and south to Louisiana; Gulf Slope from Mobile Bay drainage, Georgia and Alabama, to Mexico; introduced in Florida, South Carolina, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California (Lee and Terrell 1987), and elsewhere.