The Channel Cats.—In all the rivers of North America east of the Rocky Mountains are found catfishes in great variety. The channel cats, Ictalurus, known most readily by the forked tails, are the largest in size and most valued as food. The technical character of the genus is the backward continuation of the supraoccipital, forming a bony bridge to the base of the dorsal. The great blue cat, Ictalurus furcatus, abounds throughout the large rivers of the Southern States and reaches a weight of 150 pounds or more. It is an excellent food and its firm flesh is readily cut into steaks. In the Great Lakes and northward is a very similar species, also of large size, which has been called Ictalurus lacustris. Another similar species is the willow cat, Ictalurus anguilla. The white channel-cat, Ictalurus punctatus, reaches a much smaller size and abounds on the ripples in clear swift streams of the Southwest, such as the Cumberland, the Alabama, and the Gasconade. It is a very delicate food-fish, with tender white flesh of excellent flavor.
Fig. 143.—Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque). Illinois River. Family Siluridæ.
Horned Pout.—The genus Ameiurus includes the smaller brown catfish, horned pout, or bullhead. The body is more plump and the caudal fin is usually but not always rounded. The many species are widely diffused, abounding in brooks, lakes, and ponds. Ameiurus nebulosus is the best-known species, ranging from New England to Texas, known in the East as horned pout. It has been successfully introduced into the Sacramento, where it abounds, as well as its congener, Ameiurus catus (see Fig. 229, Vol. I), the white bullhead, brought with it from the Potomac. The latter species has a broader head and concave or notched tail. All the species are good food-fishes. All are extremely tenacious of life, and all are alike valued by the urchin, for they will bite vigorously at any sort of bait. All must be handled with care, for the sharp pectoral spines make an ugly cut, a species of wound from which few boys' hands in the catfish region are often free.
Fig. 144.—Horned pout, Ameiurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). (From life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.)
In the caves about Conestoga River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a partly blind catfish, evidently derived from local species outside the cave. It has been named Gronias nigrilabris.
A few species are found in Mexico, one of them, Ictalurus meridionalis, as far south as Rio Usamacinta on the boundary of Guatemala.
Besides these, a large channel-cat of peculiar dentition, known as Istlarius balsanus, abounds in the basin of Rio Balsas. In Mexico all catfishes are known as Bagre, this species as Bagre de Rio.
The genus Leptops includes the great yellow catfish, or goujon, known at once by the projecting lower jaw. It is a mottled olive and yellow fish of repulsive exterior, and it reaches a very great size. It is, however, a good food-fish.