Ictalurus furcatus
(Blue Catfish)
Ictalurus furcatus (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840)
Common name: Blue Catfish
Taxonomy: available through www.itis.gov
Identification: Blue Catfish are often confused with channel catfish (I. punctatus). These two species can be distinguished by the shape of the anal fin (straight edge in I. furcatus; curved edge in I. punctatus) Smith (1979); Page and Burr (1991); Etnier and Starnes (1993); Jenkins and Burkhead (1994).
Size: 165 cm (maximum length); 40-50 kg (Graham et al. 1999)
Native Range: Mississippi River basin from western Pennsylvania to southern South Dakota and the Platte River, southwestern Nebraska, south to the Gulf of Mexico; tributaries of the gulf from Mobile Bay basin, Alabama, to the Rio Grande drainage, Texas and New Mexico. Ictalurus furcatus is endemic to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River basins of the central and southern United States and inhabits Gulf Coast streams from Alabama south into Mexico. Also, native to the Atlantic Slope of Mexico (Page and Burr 1991) if not distinguished separately from I. meridionalis (Gilbert 1998). Rarely found in the Mississippi above the confluence with the Missouri River (Becker 1983). Two historic records from Wisconsin (Lake Pepin and Lansing, Iowa) are believed to be misidentifications of Channel Catfish (Becker 1983). As such, Becker does not consider the species native to Wisconsin.
Puerto Rico &
Guam Saipan
Native range data for this species provided in part by NatureServe
Hydrologic Unit Codes (HUCs) Explained
Interactive maps: Point Distribution Maps
Table 1. States with nonindigenous occurrences, the earliest and latest observations in each state, and the tally and names of HUCs with observations†. Names and dates are hyperlinked to their relevant specimen records. The list of references for all nonindigenous occurrences of Ictalurus furcatus are found here.
AL 1971 2021 5 Apalachicola Basin; Lower Chattahoochee; Middle Chattahoochee-Walter F; Upper Choctawhatchee; Upper Conecuh
AZ 1973 2011 2 Imperial Reservoir; Upper San Pedro
CA 1966 2014 9 Los Angeles; Lower Sacramento; Middle San Joaquin-Lower Chowchilla; San Diego; San Joaquin Delta; Santa Ana; Santa Clara; Santa Margarita; Santa Maria
CO 1952 2009 5 San Luis; South Platte; Upper Arkansas; Upper Arkansas-John Martin Reservoir; Upper Arkansas-Lake Meredith
DE 2010 2020 2 Brandywine-Christina; Nanticoke
DC 2010 2010 1 Middle Potomac-Anacostia-Occoquan
FL 1968 2020 7 Apalachicola; Chipola; Escambia; Lower Choctawhatchee; Lower Conecuh; Lower Suwannee; Yellow
GA 1971 2020 15 Altamaha; Cumberland-St. Simons; Etowah; Hiwassee; Lower Chattahoochee; Lower Flint; Middle Chattahoochee-Lake Harding; Middle Chattahoochee-Walter F; Middle Savannah; Ogeechee Coastal; Satilla; Upper Ocmulgee; Upper Oconee; Upper Savannah; Upper Tallapoosa
ID 1985 1990 5 Bear Lake; Brownlee Reservoir; C.J. Strike Reservoir; Lake Walcott; Upper Snake-Rock
IA 1900 1987 1 Coon-Yellow
KS 1995 2003 11 Lower Marais Des Cygnes; Lower Republican; Medicine Lodge; Middle Republican; Neosho Headwaters; Smoky Hill; South Fork Ninnescah; Upper Cimarron; Upper Marais Des Cygnes; Upper Neosho; Upper South Fork Solomon
KY 2002 2002 1 Salt
MD 2010 2021 7 Gunpowder-Patapsco; Lower Potomac; Lower Susquehanna; Middle Potomac-Anacostia-Occoquan; Monocacy; Patuxent; Severn
MN 1900 2001 3 Lower St. Croix; Rush-Vermillion; St. Croix
NE 1980 2011 3 Lower Platte-Shell; Salt; Upper Republican
NJ 1920 1978 3 Hackensack-Passaic; Lower Hudson; Mid-Atlantic Region
NM 1955 2007 2 Conchas; Upper San Juan
NC 1975 2019 21 Albemarle; Black; Cape Fear; Chowan; Contentnea; Lower Cape Fear; Lower Pee Dee; Lower Roanoke; Lower Tar; Lumber; Meherrin; Middle Neuse; Northeast Cape Fear; Roanoke Rapids; Upper Cape Fear; Upper Catawba; Upper Neuse; Upper Pee Dee; Upper Pee Dee; Upper Yadkin; Waccamaw
ND 1980 1980 1 Upper Lake Oahe
OH 1975 2013 5 Licking; Lower Great Miami; Muskingum; Upper Great Miami; Upper Scioto
OK 1947 2019 25 Arkansas-White-Red Region; Blue-China; Cache; Caney; Chikaskia; Clear Boggy; Deep Fork; Kaw Lake; Lake O' The Cherokees; Little; Lower Canadian; Lower Canadian-Walnut; Lower Cimarron; Lower Cimarron-Skeleton; Lower Neosho; Lower North Canadian; Lower North Fork Red; Lower Verdigris; Middle North Canadian; Middle Verdigris; Middle Washita; Muddy Boggy; Poteau; Upper Little; West Cache
OR 1910 1946 2 Brownlee Reservoir; Middle Willamette
SC 1964 2020 12 Carolina Coastal-Sampit; Congaree; Cooper; Edisto River; Lake Marion; Lower Pee Dee; Middle Savannah; Salkehatchie; Santee; Seneca; Waccamaw; Wateree
SD 1980 1980 2 Fort Randall Reservoir; Lower Lake Oahe
TN 1993 2019 2 Conasauga; Upper Duck
TX 1965 2021 79 Atascosa; Austin-Travis Lakes; Bosque; Brady; Buchanan-Lyndon B. Johnson Lakes; Cedar; Chambers; Cibolo; Colorado Headwaters; Concho; Cowhouse; Denton; Double Mountain Fork Brazos; East Fork Trinity; Elm Fork Trinity; Hondo; Hubbard; Jim Ned; Lake Meredith; Lake O'the Pines; Lampasas; Leon; Little; Little Wichita; Llano; Lower Angelina; Lower Brazos-Little Brazos; Lower Colorado-Cummins; Lower Frio; Lower Pecos-Red Bluff Reservoir; Lower Prairie Dog Town Fork Red; Lower Trinity-Kickapoo; Lower Trinity-Tehuacana; Lower West Fork Trinity; Medina; Middle Brazos-Lake Whitney; Middle Brazos-Millers; Middle Brazos-Palo Pinto; Middle Colorado; Middle Colorado-Elm; Middle Guadalupe; Middle Neches; Middle Nueces; Middle Sabine; Navasota; North Bosque; North Concho; North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos; North Llano; Nueces Headwaters; Paint; Pecan Bayou; Pedernales; Richland; San Gabriel; San Marcos; San Miguel; San Saba; South Concho; South Llano; Sulphur Headwaters; Tule; Turkey; Upper Angelina; Upper Clear Fork Brazos; Upper Colorado; Upper Frio; Upper Guadalupe; Upper Neches; Upper North Fork Red; Upper Nueces; Upper Salt Fork Red; Upper San Antonio; Upper Trinity; Upper West Fork Trinity; West Nueces; White; Wichita; Yegua
VA 1974 2016 11 Albemarle; Appomattox; James; Lower Chesapeake Bay; Lower James; Middle James-Willis; Middle Potomac-Anacostia-Occoquan; Middle Roanoke; Pamunkey; Rapidan-Upper Rappahannock; Shenandoah
WA 1910 1910 1 Lower Snake
WI 1998 2006 2 South Fork Flambeau; Upper Fox
Ecology: Ictalurus furcatus can tolerate salinities up to 15 ppt (Christmas and Waller 1973, Dennison et al. 1993, Perry 1968, Ross 2001, Bonvechio et al. 2012). Their survival is 87% in experimental conditions of dissolved oxygen at 1.41 ppm (Torrans et al. 2012).
The harsh winters in their native and introduced range region make it likely Blue Catfish can survive low temperatures. They can be found in the Missouri River near Bismarck, North Dakota (Fuller and Neilson 2013). A CLIMATCH analysis included in the USFWS risk assessment for Blue Catfish found that the climate of the Great Lakes Basin closely matches the climate of their current range (Australian Bureau of Rural Sciences 2008).This species migrates toward warmer waters during winter and to cooler waters during summer (Graham 1999). Their preferred temperature is between 28 and 30°C. In fish farms in Mississippi Delta, 95% survive after winter with temperatures as low of 5.1°C (Bosworth 2012).
Blue Catfish can live in a variety of habitats. They inhabit river channels which have higher flows and harder substrates (i.e., gravel, boulders, rock rip rap), and floodplain lakes which have lower or no flows and softer substrates (i.e., silt, sand) (Eggleton and Schramm Jr 2004). Blue Catfish prefer open waters of large reservoirs and main channels, backwaters, and embayments of large, flowing rivers where water is normally turbid and substrate varies from gravel-sand to silt-mud (Burr and Warren 1986). Many rivers and reservoirs with I. furcatus populations have only mud or silt substrate. Blue Catfish prefer deep, swift channels and flowing pools (Jenkins and Burkhead 1994), and large individuals often are found in tailwaters below dams where currents are swift and substrates consist of sand, gravel, and rock (Mettee et al. 1996, Graham et al. 1999).
Blue Catfish are highly omnivorous. In the lower Mississippi River, across all habitats their diets were composed of 47% fishes (more than 15 identifiable species), 15% molluscs, 12% chironomids and oligochaetes, 7% detritus/plant matter, 6% decapods, 6% scavenging, and 1% terrestrial arthropods (Eggleton and Schramm Jr. 2004). Scavenged items were typically fishes and fish scales, but also included small mammals, birds, and turtles.
Blue Catfish spawns in late spring to early summer at water temperatures of 21 to 25°C (Sublette et al. 1990) In advance of spawning, Blue Catfish seek protected areas to deposit eggs behind rocks, root-wads, depressions, undercut stream banks, or other areas where the currents are minimal (Graham et al. 1999).
Males guard eggs and fry (Graham et al. 1999) which is a strategy associated with animals that have high colonization success.
Means of Introduction: Intentionally stocked for food and sport. Stocked in the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, in 1966 (Guire et al. 1984). Introductions in the Choctawhatchee River, Alabama, were due to flooding of a private lake in 1993 (Mettee et al. 1996). Recent introductions into the Chattahoochee River in Alabama and Georgia were due to flooding of catfish farms in Alabama during a storm in March 1990 (Ober, personal communication). Presumably these fish moved downstream into the Apalachicola in Florida. Sources of introductions in Escambia and Yellow rivers of Florida are unknown (R. Cailteux, personal communication).
Status: Established in most locations. Probably extirpated from the San Juan and Canadian drainages in New Mexico (Sublette et al. 1990). Established in the Chattahoochee River in Alabama and Georgia (Ober, personal communication), the Apalachicola and Escambia rivers in Florida (R. Cailteux, personal communication).
Impact of Introduction: Hybridizes with threatened Yaqui catfish I. pricei in Mexico (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1994).
Remarks: Blue Catfish has been stocked to feed on the introduced Asian clam Corbiucula fluminea. Although the species may not actually control clam populations, it is hoped that clam biomass could be converted to fish biomass and create trophy-sized catfish to catch (Dill and Cordone 1997). Blue Catfish are known to consume the invasive Asian clam, Corbicula fluminea, in Lake Norman (NC Wildlife Resources Commission, pers. comm.), and feed almost exclusively on Corbicula in the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, (M. Moser, personal communication). Not listed as occurring in South Carolina by Loyacano (1975). Not listed as occurring in Idaho by Simpson and Wallace (1978). Reports of I. furcatus in the New drainage in West Virginia and Virginia are more likely misidentified I. punctatus (Burkhead et al. 1980). See Burkhead et al. (1980) for discussion of these reports. Stauffer et al. (1995) do not list this species for the Kanawha (including the New) drainage of West Virginia.
There is considerable doubt about the introduction of this species in the Potomac River near the turn of the century. Although numerous authors (Bean and Weed 1911; McAtee and Weed 1915; Wiley 1970; Jenkins et al. 1972; Stauffer et al. 1978; Graham 1999) report that the species was introduced between 1898 and 1905, it appears that statement is based on misidentified I. punctatus (Burkhead et al. 1980), or if any of those fish actually were I. furcatus, the introduction failed. Starnes et al. (2011) reported that young I. furcatus were increasing in number in the lower reaches of the Potomac, and that this species is established in river and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal up through the Plummers Island region.
Anonymous. 1968. Fishing guide for waters in and around Eglin Air Force Base. Conservation and Beautification Committee, Eglin Air Force Base.
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Bean, B.A., and A.C. Weed. 1911. Recent additions to the fish fauna of the District of Columbia. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 24:171-174.
Becker, G.C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. University of Madison Press Madison, WI.
Bond, C.E. 1994. Keys to Oregon freshwater fishes. Oregon State University Bookstores, Corvallis, OR.
Bonvechio, T. Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Burkhead, N.M, R.E. Jenkins, and E.G. Maurakis. 1980. New records, distribution and diagnostic characters of Virginia Ictalurid catfishes with an andexed adipose fin. Brimleyana. 4: 75-93.
Burr, B.M., and L.M. Page. 1986. Zoogeography of the fishes of the lower Ohio-upper Mississippi basin. Pages 287-324 in Hocutt, C.H., and E.O. Wiley, eds. The zoogeography of North American freshwater fishes. John Wiley and Sons. New York, NY.
Cooper, E.L. 1983. Fishes of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA.
Dahlberg, M.D., and D.C. Scott. 1971. Introductions of freshwater fishes in Georgia. Bulletin of the Georgia Academy of Science 29:245--252.
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Graham, K. 1999. A review of the biology and management of blue catfish. American Fisheries Society Symposium 24: 37-49.
Guire, C.R., L.E. Nichols, and R.T. Rachels. 1984. Biological investigations of flathead catfish in the Cape Fear River. Proceedings of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies 35(1981):607-621.
Hocutt, C.H., R.E. Jenkins, and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 1986. Zoogeography of the fishes of the central Appalachians and central Atlantic coastal plain. Pages 161-212 in Hocutt, C.H., and E.O. Wiley, eds. The zoogeography of North American freshwater fishes. John Wiley and Sons. New York, NY.
Howells, R. G. 1990a. Tilapia predation by blue and channel catfish in two Texas power plant reservoirs. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Management Data Series 29, Austin, TX.
Idaho Fish and Game. 1990. Fisheries Management Plan 1991-1995. Appendix I - A list of Idaho fishes and their distribution by drainage. Idaho Fish and Game.
IGFA. 2012. International Game Fish Association records. http://www.igfa.org/records/Fish-Records.aspx?LC=ATR&Fish=Catfish,%20blue. Accessed 7 March 2012.
Jenkins, R.E., and N.M. Burkhead. 1994. Freshwater fishes of Virginia. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD.
Jenkins, R.E., E.A. Lachner, and F.J. Schwartz. 1972. Fishes of the central Appalachian drainages: their distribution and dispersal. Pages 43-117 in The distributional history of the biota of the Southern Appalachians–Part III. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Blacksburg, VA.
Lampman, B.H. 1946. The coming of the pond fishes. Binfords and Mort, Portland, OR.
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Nonnative fishes of the Cape Fear River
Fishes of Georgia - Georgia Museum of Natural History, University of Georgia
FishBase Summary
Author: Fuller, P., and M. Neilson
Revision Date: 5/3/2021
Fuller, P., and M. Neilson, 2022, Ictalurus furcatus (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840): U.S. Geological Survey, Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=740, Revision Date: 5/3/2021, Peer Review Date: 1/15/2014, Access Date: 1/21/2022