Ictalurus punctatus

Invasion History

First Non-native North American Tidal Record: 1889
First Non-native West Coast Tidal Record: 1943
First Non-native East/Gulf Coast Tidal Record: 1889

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General Invasion History:

Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are native to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence, and Mississippi-Gulf drainages, from south Quebec and Manitoba and Montana, south to Florida-Texas. Their range includes a small part of the Arctic drainage (Red River, Minnesota) (Page and Burr 1991). The northern boundary of their native range on the Atlantic Coastal Plain is uncertain. They are considered possibly native north to the Susquehanna by some authors (Page and Burr 1991), but their introduction to Chesapeake drainages is clearly documented. There are no clear early records, their bones were not found in remains at a 250-800-year-old Indian settlement on the James River (Whyte 1989, cited by Jenkins and Burkhead 1993). They are native to the Florida peninsula, and probably introduced in Georgia, where they are often called 'Government Catfish’ (Dahlberg and Scott 1979). Channel Catfish were widely stocked by United States Fish Commission (USFC) and state agencies as a food and gamefish and have now been introduced throughout most of the United States (Page and Burr 1991). In 1892 and 1893, USFC shipped batches of 10-40,000 fish to 20+ states, including Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, and New Jersey but also interior western states; e.g. Washington, Colorado, and Idaho (Bean 1893; Worth 1895). Introductions to the San Francisco Bay and Columbia estuaries happened later (1940s) (Lampman 1946; Dill and Cordone 1997), and from the 1960s to 1980s introductions were made in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts (USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program). They are introduced in at least 28 states and established in most (Fuller et al. 1999). Channel Catfish have been introduced into 38 countries worldwide, including nine European countries (Lever 1996; Food and Agricultural Organization 2018).

North American Invasion History:

Invasion History on the West Coast:

Initial plantings of 'catfishes' were made in the San Francisco Bay watershed in 1874, and in the Columbia River, Oregon, starting in 1888, but identifications of the species were vague. Some 'Mississippi catfish' from the Elkhorn River, Nebraska, were stocked in the Sacramento River, but these may have been Black Bullheads (Ameirus melas) (Cohen and Carlton 1995; Dill and Cordone 1997). Stockings of Channel Catfish were reported in Lake Cuyamaca, in San Diego County, and another planting in Sweetwater Lake, San Diego County in 1922. Channel Catfish were caught in the Colorado River in the 1920s. In 1942, the first specimen was captured in the Central Valley, and in 1943 one was caught in the Sacramento River north of Sacramento. These introductions resulted from a planting by local businessmen along the American River in 1925-1930 (Dill and Cordone 1997). By 1963-1966, Channel Catfish were established in the Delta but were only ~2% of the catfish caught, with the White Catfish (Ameiurus catus) predominating. Channel Catfish have been increasing in abundance but still were greatly outnumbered by White Catfish in the 1980s through the early 2000s (Brown and Michniuk 2007; Grimaldo et al. 2012; Sommer et al. 2014). They have been caught in small numbers in the fresh-brackish Suisun Marsh (Matern et al. 2002).

As in San Francisco Bay, there was considerable confusion on the identity of the catfish introduced to the Columbia River. Some early plantings were made in a pond near Vancouver, Washington, and in the Boise River, Idaho in 1892 (Smith 1895). However, the first accurately identified specimens in the lower river were caught at Bonneville Dam in 1945, and near Portland, Oregon in 1946 (Lampman 1946). One specimen was caught in a fish survey in the lower Willamette River (Farr and Ward 1992). Today websites indicate that Channel Catfish are well-established and regularly fished in the lower Columbia River

Invasion History on the East Coast:

Channel Catfish are native to the Gulf Coast and the Florida Peninsula, but their northern range limit is uncertain. Dahlberg and Scott (1971) considered the Channel Catfish introduced in the Altamaha and Savannah Rivers, Georgia, but the date of introduction is unknown. Channel Catfish were introduced to the Savannah River watershed before 1911 (Bowers 1911) and a specimen was caught in the Savannah estuary, in South Carolina in 1941 (ANSP 90558, Academy of Natural Sciences at Philadelphia 2018). A Channel Catfish was caught in Davis Bay, Albemarle Sound in 1891 (USNM 76096, U. S. National Museum of Natural History Ichthyological Collections 2014; Menhinick 1991). This fish was probably a stray from Virginia stockings in the Roanoke River, since Smith (1907) reported this species only from the western slope of the Appalachians. Channel Catfish have been widely stocked and are now abundant along the Atlantic Coastal Plain in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina (Dahlberg and Scott 1971; Menhinick and Burton 1974; Menhinick 1991; Rohde et al. 1994).

In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Channel Catfish were stocked in the Potomac from 1889 to 1909 by Virginia Fish Commission and the USFC; at locations between Quantico, Virginia, and Hagerstown, Maryland (Smith and Bean 1898; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993) and were abundant by 1915 around Washington DC (McAtee and Weed 1915), in the Potomac. They are now found from West Virginia downriver to Maryland Point; and in tributaries to Wicomico River further downstream (Lippson et al. 1979). By the 1930s, fisheries for Channel Catfish were established in the James and Potomac Rivers (Menzel 1943).

Channel Catfish took longer to become established in the upper Chesapeake. They were stocked from 1910 to1919 in the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania by the USFC (Bowers 1914; Leach 1921) but were not listed by Fowler (1919; 1948) for the Susquehanna drainage. They were collected in 1949 at Conowingo Dam, and were reportedly common there in 1958, Howarth 1961). Channel Catfish were stocked in the Patapsco River, Maryland (Leach 1919), but were not found in early upper Bay surveys (Fowler 1917; Fowler 1933; Radcliffe and Welsh 191; Hildebrand and Schroeder 1928), The first published field records were from 1958, on the Susquehanna Flats, where they were common (Howarth 1961), and in the Northeast River, where they were the most abundant gamefish in a creel survey (Elser 1960). By 1970 they were common in the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (Wang 1971) and down the Bay to Back River, north of Baltimore (Lippson et al. 1973). They have been caught occasionally in the Rhode River (Hines et al. unpublished data). They are now found in all the Bay's major tributaries, and in the fresh-brackish waters of the upper Bay.

Channel Catfish were stocked at many locations in the Delaware River drainage by the USFC (Bowers 1911), however, they were not listed by Fowler for Delaware (1911) or Pennsylvania (1919; 1948) but were well established by the 1960s (Wang 1971). From 1980 to 1993 they were found in surveys of the upper middle, and lower Delaware River, as far as the brackish Artificial Island area near the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (Weisberg et al. 1996).

Channel Catfish were first collected in the Hudson River estuary in 1976, at River Km 90, and in 1979, at River Km 124 (1976, Smith and Lake 1990). The Hudson River population probably resulted from an unofficial stocking. Since their first collection, their population has been steadily increasing. Jordan and Neumann (2004) collected them from RKm 85 to 246 in the Hudson, from the lower estuary to the near the head of tide. Channel Catfish were first reported from the Connecticut River in 1960, and occur in the estuary from Hartford to Lyme, near the river mouth (Behnke and Wetzel 1960; Marcy 1976; Whitworth 1968; Whitworth 1996).

Invasion History in Hawaii:

Channel Catfish are now established in reservoirs in Hawaii, Oahu, Kaui, and Maui (Maciolek 1984; Lever 1996; USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2018). The first introduction was a large planting to a reservoir on Oahu in 1958.

Invasion History Elsewhere in the World:

Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) have been introduced to 28 states, Puerto Rico, and at least 38 countries worldwide, including nine European countries (Lever 1996; Food and Agricultural Organization 2018). Established populations are known from England, Italy, Spain, and Portugal (Lever 1996; Banha et al. 2017). They were introduced to reservoirs on Puerto Rico in 1938 by the US Fisheries Bureau and are established in many reservoirs (Lever 1996; USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2018). They are also established in Cuba and the Dominican Republic (Lever 1996). They are introduced and established in Brazil (Lever 1996) and Japan (Nitta and Nagasawa 2015). Channel Catfish are one of the world's most widely cultured food fishes, with major production taking place in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Russia, and China (Food and Agriculture Organization 2018). In 1987, a proposed introduction of Channel Catfish for aquaculture to New Zealand prompted a risk assessment. The assessment concluded that the risk of escape was high, and this omnivorous fish posed a danger to endemic fishes and invertebrates (Townsend and Winterbourn 1991).

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Description

The Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) is a large omnivorous freshwater fish in the family Ictaluridae (Bullhead Catfishes). Fish in this family have four pairs of barbels, no scales, an adipose fin, stout spines at the origins of the dorsal and pectoral fins, and abdominal pelvic fins. The tail fin of the Channel Catfish is deeply forked, with rounded lobes. The adipose fin has a short base, with its free end free at the back, and far from the caudal fin. The base of the anal fin is long and rounded, with a straight edge and 24-29 rays. The pectoral spines are stout and strongly serrated. The dorsal fin is relatively short, with one spine and 6 soft rays. The head is broad and depressed. Adults can reach 1270 mm, but more usually less than 600 mm. Channel Catfish are blue-black to gray or olive, above, and white below. Adults often have small black spots, but these are lacking in very young fish, and sometimes in large, adult fish. The chin barbels are pale, while the other barbels are dusky (Page and Burr 1991; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993; Murdy et al. 1997; Moyle 2002).

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Taxonomy

Ecology

General:

The Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are large predatory freshwater fish, which do enter brackish water. The two sexes are not morphologically distinguishable. Given this fish's wide geographical range, and range of habitats, its life history characteristics vary greatly. They mature at about 180 to 560 mm, at an age of about three to nine years (more usually 4-6) (Carlander 1969; Jones et al. 1978; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993; Moyle 2002). Spawning occurs at 21-29 C, and 0- 2 PSU. The male prepares a nest in weedy or dark places, under rock ledges, muskrat tunnels in submerged turf, log jams, or in man-made containers. During spawning, the male and female often embrace in a head-to-tail fashion, with the males' tail curled around the female's head. Fecundity ranges from 1052 to 70,000 eggs, but for average-size Virginia fishes, 42,000 to 10,6000 eggs). Eggs and young are guarded by the male (Jones et al. 1978; Wang et al. 1986; Jenkins and Burkhead 1993; Moyle 2002). A specimen in Quebec lived for over 40 years, but fish in California rarely exceed 10 years (Moyle 2002).

Channel Catfish range from cold-temperate to subtropical climates. They can tolerate temperatures from near-freezing to 37 C (Jones et al. 1978), and prefer salinities below 2-4 PSU but tolerate salinities up to 15 PSU (Norton and Davis 1977; Jones et al. 1978). Their habitats include 'deep pools and runs over sand and rocks in small to large rivers and lakes. Avoids upland streams' (Page and Burr 1991). They often spend the day under log jams and undercut banks, moving into open riffles by day (Moyle 2002). Channel Catfish are considered omnivorous, but plant material and detritus in the gut may be ingested during feeding on benthic prey (Moyle 2002). However, in aquaculture, they are fed largely a plant-based diet, including corn, cottonseed, and soybean meal (Food and Agricultural Organization 2018). Small Channel Catfish feed on insect larvae and small crustaceans, especially isopods. As they grow, they add crayfish and fishes to their diet (Moyle 2002). DNA studies of catfish gut contents indicates that they eat a smaller quantity and variety of fishes than Blue Catfish (I. furcatus) (Aguilar et al. 2017). Menzel (1943) examined only 12 fish but found that they ate Blue Crabs (Callinectes sapidus) and White Perch (Morone americana). Major predators include fishes, birds, and humans.

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Habitats

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Tolerances and Life History Parameters

Minimum Temperature (ºC)	0	Based on geographical range
Maximum Temperature (ºC)	38	Upper lethal temperature, Jones et al. 1978
Minimum Salinity (‰)	0	This is a freshwater fish.
Maximum Salinity (‰)	15	Schwartz 1964
Minimum Reproductive Temperature	21	Field, Jones et al. 1978
Maximum Reproductive Temperature	29	Field, Jones et al. 1978
Minimum Reproductive Salinity	0	This is a freshwater fish.
Maximum Reproductive Salinity	2	Field, Jones et al. 1978
Minimum Length (mm)	230	Mature females, 292, males (Jones et al. 1978)
Maximum Length (mm)	1,270	Page and Burr 1991, more typically 600 (Carlander 1969)
Broad Temperature Range	None	Subtropical-Cold-temperate
Broad Salinity Range	None	Limnetic-mesohaline

General Impacts

Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) are highly valued as food and sport fish in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, and China. They are the leading aquaculture species in the southeast United States, although most of the aquaculture effort takes place within its native range (Food and Agricultural Organization 2018). They are also a major sport fish in lakes, rivers, and estuaries in temperate North America. Ecological impacts in North American estuaries are difficult to determine, in part because of this fish's omnivorous diet, and because they are part of a suite of widely introduced freshwater predatory fish, together with the Black Basses (Micropterus spp., and Wallleye (Sander vitreus) (Harvey and Kareiva 2005; Sanderson et al. 2009; Schade et al. 2005).

Economic Impacts

Fisheries- Channel Catfish are popular sport fish throughout most of their introduced range, because of their size, flavor, and moderate fighting ability. In estuaries, rivers, and reservoirs, they make major contributions to the game fishing industry. In the Chesapeake Bay they support a substantial commercial fishery and are a dominant species in pound net catches in Upper Bay (Rock Hall, Still Pond Creek, Chester River; Rothschild et al. 1992). Menzel (1943) gives an historical account of the commercial catfish fishery on the James River estuary (1930-1944). In 1920-41, the catfish (White and Channel Catfish) fishery on the tidal James River amounted to ~250,000-800,000 lbs per year and was valued at about $30,000 to $40,000 (1940's currency, not adjusted) per year in average years (Menzel 1943). In 1996, Channel Catfish were the second most important finfish in Maryland commercial landings (both in weight and dollar value) and worth nearly $1 million (Maryland Department of Natural Resources 1998). In 2015, commercial catfish harvest for 2015, excluding Blue and Flathead Catfish, was over 2.2 million lbs (Maryland Department of Natural Resources 2018). In addition, 50,000 lbs. of this fish were reared in aquaculture operations in 1997 (Maryland State Archives 1998). Since then, aquaculture production in Maryland has sharply declined, due to competition from China and other countries.

Ecological Impacts

Ecological impacts of Channel Catfish in the middle Atlantic drainages have not been well studied, but appear to have been small, probably because of the relatively high diversity and the large number of shared species between the Mississippi and Atlantic drainages (Jenkins and Burkhead 1993; Lee et al. 1980). Two local extinctions of small non-commercial species are possibly attributable to introduction of large Mississippi Basin predatory fishes [Trout-perch (Percopsis oniscomaycus) and Log-perch (Percina caprodes)] (Jenkins and Burkhead 1993). In the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Hudson River, and the Connecticut River, the increase of the Channel Catfish has been associated with a decline in abundance of the White Catfish (Ameiurus catus), possibly due to competition and predation (Keller 2011; Jordan and Neumann 2004).

In the Columbia River watershed, Channel Catfish, Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu), and Walleye (Sander vitreus), are all major predators on native migratory Steelhead and Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) (Harvey and Karieva 2005; Sanderson et al. 2009). Introduction of Channel Catfish into fish communities with a high degree of endemism and isolation has been harmful in the Great Basin of the United States. This fish was undesirable for aquaculture in New Zealand. The chief concerns were risks to unfished indigenous species and those taken by Maori traditional fisheries, although risks to the mostly non-indigenous commercial and game species were also considered (Townsend and Winterbourn 1992). Channel Catfish were introduced to a Japanese lake before 2000 and has had a rapid increase of population. Modeling of the lake's foodweb suggests that continued increases of Channel Catfish populations will result in decline of nine of the lake's 18 fish species (Matzuzaki et al. 2011).

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Regional Impacts

P090	San Francisco Bay		Economic Impact	Fisheries
Channel Catfish are a popular sportfish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Dill and Cordone 1997).
CA	California		Economic Impact	Fisheries
Channel Catfish are a popular sportfish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Dill and Cordone 1997).

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