Blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) is a freshwater, brackish species recorded in the United States.
Scientific name: Ictalurus furcatus · Water: Freshwater, Brackish
Size: up to 170 cm
The blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) is the largest catfish in North America, a heavy-bodied, blue-grey fish with a dorsal hump, a deeply forked tail and 30–36 anal-fin rays — the count that separates it from the channel catfish — which can reach 170 cm and 65 kg and live about 20 years. It is native mainly to the Mississippi River and Louisiana drainages including the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas and Des Moines rivers, the Rio Grande and the Gulf coast, and it has been introduced into reservoirs and rivers such as the Santee Cooper lakes in South Carolina, the James River in Virginia and lakes in Illinois and Florida, where its tolerance of brackish water has made it invasive in the Albemarle Sound and Chesapeake Bay. An opportunistic predator that spawns once a year in May and June, it is a premier freshwater trophy in the United States and is fished on cut shad and other baits from the bank or from anchored boats in rivers, tailraces and large reservoirs. US anglers simply call it the blue cat.
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