Catfish Facts

The electric catfish, native to Africa, is capable of generating up to 350 volts.

The wells catfish is the largest European freshwater fish. Valued as a good eating fish, they can reach 10 feet in length and weigh hundreds of pounds. They eat fish and surface animals and have even been accused of attacking small children.

The Upside-Down Catfish, which lives in the Nile in Africa, often relaxes while swimming belly-up.

The Encyclopedia of Southern Culture gives catfish their own article which begins "Southerners have never aligned themselves as closely with any cold-blooded creature as they have with the feline-looking catfish."

The glass catfish is mostly transparent and often seen in aquariums. Catfish are also included in aquariums as scavengers, to help keep the tank clean.

The candiru, a small, worm-like South American catfish is the only vertebrate parasite of people. Perhaps the less said about this blood-sucking fish, dubbed Urinophilus diabolicus by one imaginative observer, the better.

There is a family of catfish which have developed air-breathing organs. One species is even known to migrate across land. Other interesting adaptations of catfish include poisonous barbs and the ability to live in caves.