Hobbies And Interests
Where and When Catfish Feed
Catfish typically prefer the dark. Flathead, black bullheads and blue catfish are active night feeders, but when they feed during the day they favor deep pools and channels. These catfish are also bottom feeders and find most of their diet on the beds of the rivers and lakes they inhabit. If their native body of water is excessively murky, these catfish are known to come to the surface and gulp air to get their oxygen. This is often misinterpreted as a feeding habit because it appears the catfish is eating something. Channel cats live in swift currents and are not known as bottom feeders.
How Catfish Find Food
The distinctive whiskers that give the catfish its name also give it its dinner. They taste the water around the catfish for scent trails, and also detect the vibrations of its prey underwater. The larger the trail the prey leaves behind, the easier it is for the catfish to follow. Catfish rely on this sense more than sight and will follow a trail exactly instead of cutting corners once it has the prey in sight.
What Catfish Hunt
What a catfish hunts depends on its size. All catfish will hunt small crustaceans such as shrimp or crayfish, but only larger catfish hunt other fish. Species such as the flathead even hunt other catfish. Catfish also prey upon aquatic bugs, worms and leeches, minnows, and small fish. The warmer the water is, the more catfish actively hunt. This is due to an increased production of stomach enzymes that occurs when the body temperature of the catfish approaches 100 degrees.
What Catfish Find
In addition to active night hunting, catfish are bottom feeders and scavengers as well. This eating habit is responsible for the bulk of their diets. Because all catfish species are omnivorous, they will eat small aquatic vegetation, including dead plant matter that decays on riverbeds. Catfish also eat decaying animals and dead insects. They have also adapted to polluted waters and will consume any edible garbage they find floating in the water.