The Catfish or Bullhead 



channel catfish, spotted cat, yellow cat, 

 black cat, marbled cat, blue cat, black bull- 

 head and the pout. 



They are all dull, slow-moving fish, but 

 when hooked are surprisingly lively; all are 

 fond of mud, growing best in weedy ponds 

 and rivers without a current. They stay 

 near the bottom, moving slowly about, with 

 their barbels widely spread, watching for 

 anything eatable. The catfishes are a hardy 

 race, and are very tenacious of life, opening 

 and shutting their mouths half an hour 

 after their heads have been cut off, and so 

 prolific are they that in some places the 

 bottom of the water seems a living mass of 

 fish. At such times, through lack of food, 

 they die in thousands, never attaining a size 

 of more than six inches. Living entirely 

 at the bottom armed with long sharp 

 spines, they are comparatively safe from 

 enemies and at the end of the third year 

 are fully matured. Spawning in spring, 

 when the young are hatched, the old fish 

 lead them in great schools near the shore, 



