3 questions about catfish (please help! school related)

[horseygal714]

Okay. I'm Rachel, and I'm reading Huck Finn, and I need to answer some questions about catfish, and I was hoping you guys might help me out. First off- What does a catfish look like? How big does the fish get? Oh, and please don't flame me, but... Is it good to eat? Thanks in advance for you help!

[Barbie]

I'm sure you realize you posted on a hobbyist forum, asking about whether we think our pets taste good. Good luck not getting flamed on that one.

With that said, catfish range from inches to meters in length and come in hundreds of shapes, sizes and colors. Feel free to check out the Catelog and do some browsing if that wasn't enough of a description.

Barbie

[Silurus]

Most catfish taste pretty good, although opinions will vary as to which species taste the best (Pangasius are way too oily for my liking, and channel catfish are too bland). Some people hate the texture of catfish flesh, though.
The catfish that Huck Finn would have most likely encountered is the channel cat,

Ictalurus punctatus

.

[Suckermouth]

Well, the general appearance of a catfish is... there really isn't one. However, when restricting it down to American species, it gets much easier. Catfish are generally elongate in shape, and have a big head with a large mouth; catfish are predators and can swallow pretty big prey. Of course, being catfish, they have whiskers on their heads, two on the corners of their mouths, four on their chin, and even two extended nostrils. There are some pics in the Cat-eLog section of this site under the family Ictaluridae.

Yeah, seeing as how Huck Finn lived in the US, many catfish from the family Ictaluridae are good candidates to what Huck may have caught. It probably is a Channel Cat, though it might also have been a Bullhead of some sort; I'm not entirely sure since I haven't read any of his adventures.

The Channel Catfish can get over two feet long, and some sources say three; a close relative, the Blue Catfish (another possibility) can get over 5' long, and weigh between 200 and 300 lbs!

I've ate Channel Cat before, and I like it better than salmon.

[Rusty]

Of all the catfish our palates have had experience with, we'd have to say that

Pelteobagrus fulvidraco

takes the cake for best tasting. Bagrids seem to be pretty good food wise. I'm told

Sperata seenghala

is exported to the UK as a food fish, but bagrids may be hard to find in the States

Rusty

[Fiskars the Whiskers]

When I went to Tennessee a couple years ago my goal was to eat fried catfish. It was pretty good! Although now I don't look at my cories the same way (deep-fried cory nuggets?) or channel cats either, since my goal was to eat one.

[sidguppy]

I kinda like Clarias.
pretty ordinaire these days, but you can make great WOK-recipes involving Asian herbs, rice and Clarias. I even put it in the Cous-Cous to vary that with something else than sheep (I don't like pigmeat too much, so it's usually good Halal CousCous; dunno if catfishes are like that, however)

mmmmjammie

I'm into Asian food anyway, esp if it involves fish. If I ever haul my butt off to Thailand or so, I'd probably go on a fishdinner-rampage

On the other hand, I had Pleco's for snacks in the Amazonforest
They're absolutely delicious, esp the big ones (Glyptopterichthys); just cook 'em on open fire and peel them like lobsters

Same for Kwi-Kwi; another fish with much taste of its' own.
Kwi-Kwi goes very well with Surinam herbs, although I'm not resistant to Surinam peppers wich is akin to eating napalm or something AAAAAAAAARRRGGHH!

I eat cichlids as well, so I'm pretty indiscriminate when it comes to fish/pets/dinner.

I do NOT eat my own pets, though!

[Cory]

I've ate Nile perch and red talapia chiclid

[horseygal714]

Thank you all for you help! I truly appreciate it! to everyone that replied! Thanks again!