Talk:Catfish/Archive 1

Discussion
"They are banned from entering the Republic of Molossia" Really? How is this notable? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.181.197.142 (talk) 20:26, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

PLEASE!!!!! Can we have an image of catfish in the wild rather than in a fishing net?????!!!!! Kingturtle 01:56 17 May 2003 (UTC)

-> Requested pictures


 * Josh Grosse, thank you for finding that more appropriate image. Kingturtle 06:30 14 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Largest freshwater fish?
I believe that the Arapima of the Amazon is in fact the worlds largest freshwater fish. David

-The arapaima is a very large fish, but they are not as large es the the mekong catfish, which is much bulkier and heavier. Furthermore there are several species of freshwater sturgeons and freshwater stingrays which grow also larger than the arapaima.

Giant Mekong Catfish
I tried adding the link to this article in this article but it doesn't work. the wikipedia article on Giant Mekong Catfish is all capitalized but when i put that link in the text it reverts it to lowercase and indicates that there's no such article.

Does anyone know how true it is that catfish can survive when lake is dry?
Some species are able to breath air and and "walk" short distances over land, but most catfish-species will simply die when their habitat dries out. Catfishes teeth are more like grinders which are rough and ragged.

Largest Wels Catfish...
Fishbase says that wels catfish may be up to 5 metres in length and weigh up to 300 kg. The 'largest catfish caught' catcher seems to have missed a thing.

-In fact there are no prooves that a wels catfish of this dimensions ever existed. The largest specimens were about 2,70-2,80m, and had weights of 100-150kg. This shows also that the size and weight are in false relations, because a 5m long catfish would weigh much more than 300kg. It is sadly very common that authors copy "facts" from other authors without any research.

Catifsh law
I have heard recently that there is a proposed law in America that would legally define 'catfish' to exclude the species grown in Vietnam & SW Asia, who are the major source of catfish eaten in the US, for protectionist purposes. Has anyone here heard about it? Identity0 08:10, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Yes, something came up in the House maybe 2 years ago that would have allowed the word catfish only be attached to products that came from Ictalurids. Of course this is bullshit, as "catfish" has always refered to Silurids on the whole, and this entire discussion is only coming about because Vietnamese Pangasiid ("basa") imports are starting to show up in supermarkets. Rusty 22:52, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Using catfish in septic tanks.
Catfish are used in septic tanks in Indonesia, to eat the waste and prevent the tank from filling up with solids too quickly. I can't find a valid source, so I'll just offer these links for now, and hope that someone comes up with a source. I might try and co-author a journal article on it next year, which would then be a valid source.

Blog post (and comments): Ikan lele technology

My comment: An Indonesian's comment on catfish in septic tanks

The Indonesian Wikipedia article on catfish mentions that freshwater catfish are used to remove impurities from water; it states that catfish used in the way must be cleansed before eating, by being placed in flowing water. (The article doesn't state how long for, or just how much this improves the taste & safety). --Singkong2005 &middot; talk 15:28, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Environmentally safe?
Could someone help with interpreting this sentence?:

"Catfish raised in inland tanks or channels are considered safe for the environment, since their waste and disease should be contained and not spread to the wild."

I've tried these out, but I'm really not sure.

1) Catfish that are raised in a certain way are environmentally safe. It would help if the article described the specifics of this.

2) Catfish that are not raised in tanks or channels are not necessarily environmentally safe. Are there ways of raising that are known to be not environmentally safe? That would be useful information for the article.

3) The byproducts of raised catfish, if they get into the wild, may not be environmentally safe. What are the risks of this? Has it been known to happen?

User:Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 07:13, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

The link no longer exists, but whoever wrote it most likely refers to the excrement of the large quantities of fish needed to support the market, and possible the parasties certain catfish species are host to. Viskadaik (talk) 10:30, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Do silurids have a dorsal spine?
The article says all catfish but malapterurids have a dorsal spine, but FishBase thinks silurids don't either. Thanks &mdash; Walrus heart (talk) 18:59, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

What do they eat?
There's plenty of info on how often people eat them, but what do catfish eat? I tried to determine if a bottom-dweller is herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, or "none of above" for my kid's science project and found ZIP information in this long article. Could someone knowledgeable please add it? Martindo (talk) 07:59, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Although it may vary species to species, I've found most catfish are omnivorous, consuming detritus, crustaceans, aquatic plants, fish and carrion. This list even includes human remains for a few of the larger Mekong catfish I believe. Viskadaik (talk) 10:21, 4 July 2010 (UTC) Catfish eat everything —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.152.202.172 (talk) 15:45, 26 December 2010 (UTC)

Technical problem here
Google search for this page returns

Catfish - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Catfish (order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of Jewish Ahshars (?)Named for their prominent sexy fishness, which resemble a cat's ass, (!) catfish range in ... Catfish (disambiguation) - Aquaculture of catfish - Blue catfish - Airbreathing catfish en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catfish - Cached - Similar

Why is this happening? Anubisthefoxhead (talk) 13:18, 11 February 2011 (UTC)


 * You must be looking at an old Google cache. Google's searches aren't up-to-the-minute, their results are behind what is actually available on the Internet. The odd wording was from when the page had been vandalized, and that has been already corrected.


 * I've added a signature for you, but in the future please remember to sign your posts on talk pages with four tildes ~, the Wikipedia system will automatically add you user-name to your contributions.  Cheers, Shearonink (talk) 13:51, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Incredible large catfish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnO9SevdCZ8

just watch it, i dont know how big it is, and im sure it isnt natural, but oh god its big.

83.87.207.93 (talk) 23:38, 15 March 2011 (UTC) seth

Type of Fish
In terms of eating, is catfish a whitefish or a non-whitefish? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.142.211.252 (talk) 10:35, 27 May 2011 (UTC) On some catfish the barbels contain poison and ca cause gangrene when a person is stung. There is no mention of this inthewtiteup. catfish are also good to eaat — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.237.199.117 (talk) 03:39, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

There is an allusion but no actual mention in this entry of saltwater catfish, which are common in the SE United States. They are not considered fit to eat.The gafftopsail catfish is considered a good fighter on hook and line, however. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.82.125.102 (talk) 13:27, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Added a Communication tab
I added a communication tab with the mechanism for catfish communication (via sound production, including drumming and stridulation sounds) to the article as part of my behavioral ecology class. I think this will help people who want to know more about the fish's behavior. Ldorn1227 (talk) 02:01, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Unifying units
Hi, I noticed that all measurements were in metric first except for one which is in lb then kg. Could someone fix that? (I'm not good with conversion functions...)


 * The average size of the species is about 1.2–1.6 m (3.9–5.2 ft), and fish more than 2 metres (6.6 ft) are very rare. The largest specimens on record measure more than 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) in length and sometimes exceeded 100 kilograms (220 lb). In July 2009, a catfish weighing 193 pounds (88 kg) was caught in the River Ebro, Spain, by an 11-year old British schoolgirl.[19]

Thanks! Nika ~♥ (talk) 15:06, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Why does "kaari" redirect here?
The disambig page, and this page, claim that "kaari" is another word for "catfish", but it doesn't look English, and no explanation is given; nor can I find any matches for kaari+catfish in a Google Books search. 31.53.185.104 (talk) 11:13, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Why does "Nematognathi" redirect here?
Not mentioned in article. 86.164.23.31 (talk) 23:22, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Diet of the catfish itself
While there is coverage of human consumption of catfish, there is little or no mention of what catfish themselves eat, or their role in various ecologies. This is a major deficiency in an article that is supposed to be B-class. Reify-tech (talk) 17:21, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

Kosher
I would agree with the IP that reverted out the kosher section. We don't list the religious tolerance for the different religions for all other foods. This is something to be covered in Kosher foods, not here. Dennis Brown - 2&cent; 16:42, 7 July 2015 (UTC)

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Can We Add a Conservation Status?
As found on other fish pages (such as mahi-mahi and short mackerel ) Noxiyu (talk) 21:04, 8 January 2017 (UTC)
 * No, because "catfish" encompasses 3000+ different extant species of widely varying conservation statuses, in direct contrast to mahi-mahi and short mackerel, both articles being about only one species each.--Mr Fink (talk) 21:10, 8 January 2017 (UTC)