White bullhead
species of fish
The white bullhead (Ameiurus catus), also known as the white catfish, is a member of the family Ictaluridae of the order Siluriformes.
Distribution
The white bullhead is native to river systems of the Eastern United States from the Hudson River in New York to the Peace River in Florida and west to the Apalachicola River, Florida. White bullheads may have migrated naturally into Connecticut rivers as a result of the white bullhead's salt tolerance. Elsewhere, the white bullhead has been widely introduced as a food and game fish, notably into California waters as a result of intentional stocking near Stockton in 1874. It has additionally become established in the Columbia River basin and in Puerto Rico as an introduced species. It was reportedly introduced to the Philippines but did not become established there. Escapees from fee-fishing ponds and stocked lakes have led to the establishment of white bullhead in Missouri.
Description
Ameiurus catus has a head with eight barbels, two nasal, two maxillary and four chin. It is scaleless. It has a spine on the anterior edge of its dorsal and pectoral fins.
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This entry incorporates text from “White bullhead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.