CHAPTER LII 



THE ORDER OF CATFISHES 



NEMATOGNA Till 



Acquaintance with this numerous Family usu- 

 ally begins with the bullhead, which is merely a 

 pygmy catfish. 



Even when a lad in prairie-land, thirsting for 

 open water and aquatics, and looking upon every 

 mile of running water as an enchanted realm, 

 the bullhead did not appeal to me as a genuine 

 fish. Even when most eager to "quit, and go 

 a-fishing, and call it half a day," we drew the line 

 at that ill-shaped, skinny body, ugly head and 



Drawn by J- Carter Beard. 



COMMON BULLHEAD. 



wide-gaping mouth with barbels that suggest 

 dripping saliva. To me it was, and still is, a 

 repulsive creature, and its only feature worthy 

 of respect is the outfit of sharp and dangerous 

 spines with which its dorsal and pectoral fins 

 are furnished. 



Excepting the big Mississippi catfish, it is the 

 most unattractive fish inhabiting our fresh wa- 

 ters, and as an angler's proposition, it is worse 

 than an eel. It is easily taken on a trot-line; 

 and the "trot-line," set for all night across a 

 stream, and hung with about twenty short lines 



410 



and hooks, represents the lowest depths of de- 

 pravity in fishing with hook and line. It is even 

 lower than fishing with four poles. 



With a tenacity of purpose worthy of a better 

 species, the bullhead ramifies throughout the 

 muddiest rivers and creeks of the United States, 

 and in the heat of midsummer holds on whence 

 all but him have fled. He was built for mud 

 bottoms and murky waters, and so long as the 

 mud is thin enough to swim in, and deep enough 

 to float him, he remains. When re- 

 moved from his native element, the 

 tenacity of life of this creature is 

 astonishing. A bullhead will lie on 

 the bank in midsummer sunshine, 

 and breathe hot air for an hour with- 

 out giving up. 



The species of catfishes found in 

 the United States number about 

 thirty, but it is recorded that else- 

 where there are about 970 more, 

 representing in all about 100 genera. 

 Of our series, all save four are con- 

 fined to the eastern half of the 

 United States. 



The Mississippi Catfish, 1 or Blue 

 Cat, of the Mississippi River and Gulf 

 States is the giant of its genus. Even 

 when alive and in good health, it is a 

 very ugly fish, — heavy-paunched and 

 mud-colored. It looks like a fish modelled out 

 of river-mud. I saw a specimen taken at Bur- 

 lington, Iowa, which weighed 93 pounds, and 

 have heard of others exceeding 100 pounds. Jor- 

 dan and Evermann say the "record specimen 

 weighed 150 pounds," and was caught at St. 

 Louis ; but the mischievous evenness of the figure 

 easts doubt upon the reliability of the record. 



Very naturally, the tons of edible flesh annually 

 contributed by this fish to our national food 

 supply are not wasted. Thousands of persons 

 1 Ic-tu-hi'rus fur-ca'tus. 



