Ictalurus furcatus  (Valenciennes, 1840)

Blue catfish
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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: furcatus meaning forked, referring to the deeply forked caudal fin (Ref. 10294).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

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

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)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | 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).

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). Prefers clear, strongly flowing water. Marketed fresh and frozen. Eaten steamed, fried, broiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

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.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  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

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
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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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Length-weight
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Ciguatera
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Tools

Bio-Quiz | E-book | Field guide | Length-frequency wizard | Life-history tool | Point map | Classification Tree | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

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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 | iSpecies | PubMed | RFE Identification | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5010   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00000 (0.00000 - 0.00000), b=0.00 (0.00 - 0.00), based on (Ref. 93245).
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.