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Today on animal fact files we're talking about catfish. Nothing fishy here, keep up with new videos by subscribing. There are a lot of catfish species in the world. In fact, as of this recording there are almost 3,000 described species. They’ve been around for millions of years, and throughout history they’ve lived on every continent, including Antarctica, though they aren’t found there anymore. I mean, it’s not green like it used to be… uhm… well…

Today catfish are found on all the continents besides Antarctica, but they’re most diverse in South America, Asia, and Africa. Catfish can be found in freshwater, brackish water, and marine water systems and inhabit a variety of habitats. They may live in underground lakes, slow moving streams, along coastlines, and there are species that are living in places where they aren’t natively found, like the walking catfish who have become invasive to America. Catfish are almost everywhere, and they may be active during the day, night, or anywhere in between.

Generally, catfish are cylindrical in shape. They don’t have scales, though some species have bony plates that cover their bodies, like the plecos and cory catfish we’ve previously discussed. Probably one of their most recognizable features, though, are the barbels on their faces. Catfish have one to four pairs of barbels depending on the species and these face fingers help the catfish to sense their environments. The barbels on catfish faces are primarily used for finding food, which means they don’t depend heavily on vision to find a meal, so catfish eyes are typically quite small. Catfish eat a plethora of meals depending on the species, though typical food items include invertebrates like worms, arthropods like crustaceans, other fish, and plant material. Though they are opportunistic and will eat where food is plentiful, most catfish are bottom feeders and they sink in water to help facilitate this feeding strategy, though we’ve previously discussed some species who take food from the top of the water column such as upside down catfish. In turn they’re eaten by birds like herons, reptiles like snakes, other fish, and humans who actually keep farms of catfish to meet the demands of food supplies. They’re also a sport fish and are often a big catch for anglers, but some species are actually venomous with spines that can cause pain when mishandled and even prove fatal! Heck some are even electric. They come in all shapes and sizes.

The smallest catfish, such as penile catfish, are a centimeter at maturity and the largest, such as Wels catfish, are sixteen and a half feet (5 meters) at full size! How they breed, when they breed, where they breed, and how long they can live can really depend on the species. Here are some of our favorites we came across while researching:

First there are parasitic catfish who eat blood and are also known as vampire fish. There are stories that these catfish specifically target male humans and swim into their private parts, but there isn’t much evidence to back those claims. Next there are talking catfish who actually produce sounds using their fin spines or vibrating their swim bladders. And lastly there are banjo catfish who are tiny, have funny looking-bodies, and come with an awesome name.

For more facts on catfish, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.