182 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



ABDOMINAL 

 MALACOPTERYGII. 



SII,UKID.«. 



THE CAT-FISH. 



Huron Pimelode. Silurus, Phnelodus, Canosus; Richardson 



This singular and hideous family of fishes is distinguished from 

 the others of the same order, by the skin being either naked or pro- 

 tected by large plates, but always destitute of true scales. The inter- 

 maxillaries are suspended under the ethmoid bone, and form the border 

 of the upper jaw, while the labials are lengthened out into barbels, or 

 are simply rudimental ; it has, also, a second adipose dorsal fin. First 

 rays of the dorsal and pectoral fin spinous. 



This family contains twenty-five or thirty species peculiar to Ame- 

 rica, which are generally known as Cat-fish, Bull-heads, Bull-pouts, &c. 

 They inhabit the larger lakes and rivers, especially, but are found in 

 all the waters of North America. 



The commonest and the largest species both belong to the sub- 

 genus Pimelodus, and are well known as Cat-fish ; the ordinary kind 

 measuring only a few inches in length, and never exceeding a few 

 ounces weight ; the largest reaching a hundred or even a hundred and 

 fifty pounds, especially in the great northern lakes, and in the western 

 rivers. The great Huron Pimelode, or, as it is often called, the Chan- 



