In the southeast we’re all familiar with freshwater catfish.

There are flatheads, yellowtails, channels, blues and whites. Some are no bigger than your hand and one species can weigh more than 100 pounds.

There’s even a sport called “noodling” where people feel around in holes under riverbanks for very large catfish. They let the fish bite their hand and then yank the fish out.

I’m told this activity requires the consumption of liberal amounts of alcohol because snapping turtles can also live in the same holes.

In our marine waters we only have two species of catfish, which are from the family Ariidae, and neither of them has a mouth large enough to accept a hand.

The larger of our two marine catfish is the Gafftopsail catfish (Bagre marinus) or sail cat. It’s not large by freshwater standards but can go up to 15 pounds with an average weight around 2 pounds. The sail cat ranges from around Maryland down to the Gulf and around to northern South America but isn’t found in the Caribbean.

The Gafftopsail is found from inshore waters out to depths of 120 feet. It loves soft mud and sand bottoms and can be found in the surf line. This catfish feeds on shrimp, clams, squid, and minnows and prefers it alive. They’ll quickly take lures including jigs or spoons, preferring to feed at night, though they’ll feed during the day.

Like lions following the zebras they will trail schools of menhaden or herring in murky or rough waters. This catfish is a hard fighter and despite much myth to the contrary, it’s very tasty. It’s coated with a heavy mucous and like all catfish it has very sharp pointed spines that can do some damage if you’re not careful.

The last of our two marine catfish is Sea Catfish (Arius felis) also called the hardhead, which is very common, some say too common, around inshore waters.

This species doesn’t get over a foot long and 1.5 pounds. It’s one of the smallest marine catfish. It ranges from the Carolinas south throughout the Gulf but doesn’t get down to South America or the Caribbean. The hardhead feeds on the bottom and will eat just about anything it can get its mouth around.

This little guy is considered a nuisance species, and because of that is much maligned. It’s thought poorly of because it nibbles at your bait, gets tangled up in nets and has some nasty spines which can cause a short lived painful wound due to the proteins in their slime.

I’ve never heard that they’re used for food, bait or anything else. Both of these species of catfish are mouth brooders with the male incubating the eggs and young in its mouth.

Think Global – Act Local!

Dr. “Skip” Lazauski can be seen on the television show “Eco-Bites”, which airs on Mediacom’s channel 14 and Smartel’s channel 4. To reach Dr. Lazauski for questions and comments, send e-mail to IchiOrca@yahoo.com. For more information, see his Web site, drskiponline.com.