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Ictalurus furcatus  (Valenciennes, 1840)

Blue catfish
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Native range | All suitable habitat
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Ictalurus furcatus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Ictalurus furcatus (Blue catfish)
Ictalurus furcatus
Picture by Lyons, J.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Siluriformes (Catfish) > Ictaluridae (North American freshwater catfishes)
Etymology: Ictalurus: Greek, ichtys = fish + Greek, ailouros = cat (Ref. 45335);  furcatus: Ictalurus (Greek) for fish cat; furcatus (Latin) meaning forked (referring to the tail fin) (Ref. 79012).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Freshwater; brackish; demersal; depth range 50 - ? m (Ref. 5723).   Subtropical, preferred ?; 44°N - 26°N

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North America: USA (Mobile and Mississippi basins; and Texas coastal dainages between Mississippi and Río Grande basins) and Mexico (Río Bravo (Grande) and Soto La Marina basins).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 165 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5723); max. published weight: 68.0 kg (Ref. 9988); max. reported age: 21 years (Ref. 12193)

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits deep water of impoundments and main channels and backwaters of medium to large rivers, over mud, sand and gravel (Ref. 5723). Feeds on small aquatic invertebrates, clams and fishes (Ref. 93252). Prefers clear, strongly flowing water. Marketed fresh and frozen. Eaten steamed, fried, broiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea and W.B. Scott, 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. Am. Fish. Soc. Spec. Pub. (20):183 p. (Ref. 3814)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 109396)

  Least Concern (LC) 

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; gamefish: yes; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO(fisheries: production; publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

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Ecology
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Common names
Synonyms
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Predators
Ecotoxicology
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Age/Size
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Morphometrics
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Ciguatera
Speed
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Gill area
Otoliths
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Tools

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Special reports

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Alien/Invasive Species database | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | RFE Identification | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5010   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.44 se; Based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tmax=21).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (85 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.