Catfish in the Wild and on the Farm

Deep near the muddy bottom of a winding river, a sleek, gray fish glides through dark water. Its skin is completely smooth, lacking the rough scales found on bass or trout. Around its mouth, eight whisker-like strands called barbels drift outward. This is the channel catfish, one of North America's most widespread freshwater fish. While millions of these creatures thrive in natural waterways, millions more live in human-made ponds across the southern United States. Comparing life in a river to life on a fish farm reveals how animals adapt to wild environments and why people raise them in controlled settings.

In natural rivers and large lakes, channel catfish are opportunistic omnivores. Because river water is often murky and thick with sediment, catfish cannot rely on their eyes to hunt. Instead, they depend on an extraordinary sensory system. Their barbels, along with the rest of their external skin, are covered in thousands of microscopic taste buds. A catfish can literally taste its surrounding environment before opening its mouth. In the wild, they cruise along gravel beds, using these sensory barbels to detect aquatic insects, snails, small fish, fallen plant material, and decaying organic matter. River catfish must also search for shelter under sunken logs, dodge larger predators, and navigate changing currents caused by seasonal storms.