Black dwarf catfish

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Black dwarf catfish
Ameiurus melas by Duane Raver.png

Black pygmy catfish ( Ameiurus melas )

Systematics
Cohort : Otomorpha
Sub-cohort : Ostariophysi
Order : Catfish (Siluriformes)
Family : Catfish (Ictaluridae)
Genre : Ameiurus
Type : Black dwarf catfish
Scientific name
Ameiurus melas
( Rafinesque , 1820)
Black dwarf catfish

The Black catfish and black bullhead ( Ameiurus melas , Syn. : Ictalurus nebulosus ) is a species from the family of catfish (Ictaluridae).

features

Black dwarf catfish have a black-green upper side, but in animals that live in cloudy water it is often yellow-brown. The underside is gray to white.

Like the top of the body, the eight barbels are always dark, often colored black, and never white. The number of gill spines is between 15 and 19.

The first ray of the pectoral fins is weakly serrate. The anal fin has 17-21 rays; it is short and rounded, the skin between the rays is dark.

Black catfish have long, sharp spines on the front edge of their dorsal and pectoral fins. If you feel threatened, set it up and lock it. This makes them difficult for predatory fish to swallow, so they have few natural enemies. (Young animals are, however, eaten by predatory fish and sometimes by turtles.)

Adult black catfish usually only grow to around 25 to 35 centimeters long and weigh less than 400 grams. The maximum length is 66 centimeters, the maximum weight at least up to 3.62 kilograms.

Most black pygmy catfish do not live to be more than three years old, but some also reach an age of four to five years. At this age, they usually weigh less than a pound. However, some individuals also live to be over ten years old and weigh eight pounds. The highest published age of a black catfish is ten years.

distribution

The black bullhead is in the Midwest of the United States and South of Canada , over the plains from the western edge of the Appalachian Mountains to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains , from Saskatchewan and Manitoba in the north to South Texas and New Mexico in the south (52 ° N - 26 ° N).

Man spread it further. So it was used in North America in the area west of the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia and Alberta in the north to Mexico in the south in numerous waters, including in waters in the highlands (for example in Arizona , Nevada , Idaho ).

It has also been exposed in many countries in Europe, for example in Germany , Switzerland , the Netherlands , Great Britain , Italy , France , Spain and Russia . In some of its new habitats it has an extremely negative impact. In parts of eastern Germany he is considered a destructive invader. Due to its uncontrolled reproduction, it is a main reason for the decline in local fish populations there.

Black dwarf catfish live in brooks and rivers, in weak currents over soft ground, in pools, pools, backwaters, as well as in ponds, ponds and reservoirs.

nutrition

Adult black dwarf catfish are omnivores. They mostly go for food at night and at the bottom of the water. There they eat a wide variety of living and dead plants and animals. A large part of the diet is mostly made up of aquatic insects - larvae and crustaceans , but they also eat leeches, mussels, snails, fish and plant material. Young fish initially eat almost exclusively crustaceans, later mainly kerf or insect larvae , leeches and crustaceans.

Reproduction

Black pygmy catfish spawn in late spring or early summer. During this time, they hollow out nests or spawning pits in muddy soil and spawn in them. The golden yellow spawn is guarded by both parents, so they practice real brood care . The parents take turns in some cases, that is, there is often only one parent at the nest, but there is always one. The young hatch after four to six days. The broodlings form schools which are arranged in lumps and which are guarded by their parents until the fry are about 2.5 cm to 3 cm long. The black catfish reproduces relatively quickly. Doubling the population probably only takes about 1.4-4.4 years.

use

Black catfish are also caught commercially, and were probably released into many European waters for this purpose. They are also kept in commercial aquaculture and bred for consumption.

Catfish can be caught with a number of different baits, especially worms. They also often bite on bait that has been laid out for other fish.

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