Channel catfish
Species of fish / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Channel catfish?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States, they are the most fished catfish species with around 8 million anglers targeting them per year. They also have very few teeth and swallow food whole. The popularity of channel catfish for food has contributed to the rapid expansion of aquaculture of this species in the United States.[2] It has also been widely introduced in Europe, Asia and South America, and it is legally considered an invasive species in many countries.[3][4][5]
Channel catfish | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Siluriformes |
Family: | Ictaluridae |
Genus: | Ictalurus |
Species: | I. punctatus |
Binomial name | |
Ictalurus punctatus (Rafinesque, 1818) | |
Synonyms | |
|