Catfish in the context of "Pisciculture"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Catfish in the context of "Pisciculture"




⭐ Core Definition: Catfish

Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes /sɪˈljʊərɪfɔːrmz/ or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not all catfish have prominent barbels. All siluriformes lack scales, including both the armour-plated and naked species. This order of fish are defined by features of the skull and swimbladder. Catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia, the wels catfish of Eurasia, and the piraíba of South America, to detritivorous and scavenging bottom feeders, down to the tiny ectoparasitic species known as the candiru.

In the Southern United States, catfish may be known by a variety of slang names, such as "mud cat", "polliwogs", or "chuckleheads". Such names are regional and unstandardized. For instance, "chucklehead" in one region may refer to a bullhead catfish but indicate blue catfish elsewhere.

↓ Menu

In this Dossier

Catfish in the context of Narmer

Narmer (Ancient Egyptian: nꜥr-mr, may mean "painful catfish", "stinging catfish", "harsh catfish", or "fierce catfish"; fl.c. 3100 BC) was an ancient Egyptian king of the Early Dynastic Period, whose reign began at the end of the 4th millennium BC. He's believed to have been the successor to the Protodynastic king Ka. Many scholars consider him the unifier of Egypt and founder of the First Dynasty, and in turn the first king of a unified Egypt. He also had a prominently noticeable presence in Canaan, compared to his predecessors and successors. Neithhotep is thought to be his queen consort or his daughter.

A majority of Egyptologists believe that Narmer was the same person as Menes.

↑ Return to Menu

Catfish in the context of Fish farming

Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of aquatic animals such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and so on, in natural or pseudo-natural environments. A facility that releases juvenile fish into the wild for recreational fishing or to supplement a species' natural numbers is generally referred to as a fish hatchery. Worldwide, the most important fish species produced in fish farming are carp, catfish, salmon and tilapia.

Global demand is increasing for dietary fish protein, which has resulted in widespread overfishing in wild fisheries, resulting in significant decrease in fish stocks and even complete depletion in some regions. Fish farming allows establishment of artificial fish colonies that are provided with sufficient feeding, protection from natural predators and competitive threats, access to veterinarian service, and easier harvesting when needed, while being separate from and thus do not usually impact the sustainable yields of wild fish populations. While fish farming is practised worldwide, China alone provides 62% of the world's farmed fish production. As of 2016, more than 50% of seafood was produced by aquaculture. In the last three decades, aquaculture has been the main driver of the increase in fisheries and aquaculture production, with an average growth of 5.3 percent per year between 2000 and 2018, rising from 32.4 to 82.1 million tonnes.

↑ Return to Menu

Catfish in the context of Channel catfish

The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), known informally as the "channel cat", is a species of catfish native to North America. They are North America's most abundant catfish species, and the official state fish of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee. The channel catfish is the most fished species of catfish in the United States, with around 8 million anglers angling them per year. The popularity of channel catfish for food has contributed to the rapid expansion of this species' aquaculture in the United States. It has also been widely introduced to Europe, Asia and South America, and many countries consider it an invasive species.

↑ Return to Menu

Catfish in the context of Gumara River

The Gumara is a river of northern-western Ethiopia. It empties into Lake Tana into a bird's-foot delta from the east. Hot springs on the Gumara's banks at Wanzaye, which were popular in medicinal hot baths from the late 18th century till now, were already mentioned by missionary Henry Stern.

The river is an important spawning ground for native fish species, which include barbus, tilapia and catfish.

↑ Return to Menu

Catfish in the context of Pupil

The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina. It appears black because light rays entering the pupil are either absorbed by the tissues inside the eye directly, or absorbed after diffuse reflections within the eye that mostly miss exiting the narrow pupil. The size of the pupil is controlled by the iris, and varies depending on many factors, the most significant being the amount of light in the environment. The term "pupil" was coined by Gerard of Cremona.

In humans, the pupil is circular, but its shape varies between species; some cats, reptiles, and foxes have vertical slit pupils, goats and sheep have horizontally oriented pupils, and some catfish have annular types. In optical terms, the anatomical pupil is the eye's aperture and the iris is the aperture stop. The image of the pupil as seen from outside the eye is the entrance pupil, which does not exactly correspond to the location and size of the physical pupil because it is magnified by the cornea. On the inner edge lies a prominent structure, the collarette, marking the junction of the embryonic pupillary membrane covering the embryonic pupil.

↑ Return to Menu

Catfish in the context of Piscivore

A piscivore (/ˈpɪsɪvɔːr/) is a carnivorous animal that primarily eats fish. Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evolution (via water-bound amphibians during the Devonian period); insectivory came next; then in time, the more terrestrially adapted reptiles and synapsids evolved herbivory.

Almost all predatory fish (most sharks, tuna, billfishes, pikes etc.) are obligated piscivores. Some non-piscine aquatic animals, such as whales, sea lions, and crocodilians, are not completely piscivorous; often also preying on invertebrates, marine mammals, waterbirds and even wading land animals in addition to fish, while others, such as the bulldog bat and gharial, are strictly dependent on fish for food. Some creatures, including cnidarians, octopuses, squid, cetaceans, spiders, grizzly bears, jaguars, wolves, snakes, turtles and sea gulls, may have fish as significant if not dominant portions of their diets. Humans can live on fish-based diets, as can their carnivorous domesticated pets such as dogs and cats.

↑ Return to Menu

Catfish in the context of Barbel (anatomy)

In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whisker-like sensory organ near the mouth (sometimes called whiskers or tendrils). Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some species of shark such as the sawshark. Barbels house the taste buds of such fish and are used to search for food in murky water.

The word barbel comes from Latin barbula 'little beard'. Barbels are sometimes erroneously referred to as barbs, which are found in bird feathers for flight.

↑ Return to Menu