Brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) is a freshwater species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over mud, at depths of 0–12 m.
Scientific name: Ameiurus nebulosus · Water: Freshwater
Size: up to 53 cm
The brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) is a scaleless ictalurid catfish of North America, described as Pimelodus nebulosus by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1819 and still often listed as Ictalurus nebulosus, with a dark brown-green back shading to cream, brown-black speckles all over, eight barbels around the mouth and 21–24 anal-fin rays. It is separated from the black and yellow bullheads by its yellow-black chin barbels, the absence of a pale bar at the base of the tail, and the ray count, and its terminal or slightly subterminal mouth suits its bottom-feeding habit; it grows to about 53 cm and up to 3.6 kg. Its native range covers the Atlantic and Gulf Slope drainages from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Mobile Bay, Alabama, plus the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and Mississippi River basins, and it has been widely stocked elsewhere for food and sport. In the United States it is a favourite beginner's fish in ponds, slow rivers and lakes, taken from the bank or from a boat on worms, dough baits and cut bait, and it is known almost everywhere as the mud pout, horned pout, hornpout or mud cat. The Ojibwe people use the bullhead, wawaazisii, as a clan symbol. No specific fishing season is documented in the sources used here.
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