 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(July 2018) |
| Yellow bullhead | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Ictaluridae |
| Genus: | Ameiurus |
| Species: | A. natalis |
| Binomial name | |
| Ameiurus natalis (Lesueur, 1819) | |
| Synonyms [2] | |
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The yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis) is a species of bullhead catfish, a ray-finned fish that lacks scales.
The yellow bullhead is a medium-sized member of the catfish family. It is typically yellow-olive to slate black on the back and may appear mottled depending on its habitat, [3] though generally not as strongly as the brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus). [4] The sides are lighter and more yellowish, while the underside of the head and body are bright yellow, yellow white, or bright white. The rear edge of its caudal fin is rounded. The anal fin has anywhere between 24 and 27 constituent rays, more than that of other bullheads. The yellow bullhead can be easily distinguished from A. nebulosus and the black bullhead (A. melas) by the group of white barbels or "whiskers" under its chin. The pectoral spines are barbed posteriorly like those of the brown bullhead. [4] [5] Unlike flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris), there are no lateral extensions present on the upper (premaxillary) tooth patch. Its eyes are generally smaller than those of the snail bullhead (A. brunneus) or the flat bullhead (A. platycephalus) and there is no blotch at the base of the dorsal fin. [6] [7]
Yellow bullheads are medium-sized bullheads that rarely grow larger than 2 lb (0.91 kg), but can reach up to 6.375 lb (2.892 kg). [8] Yellow bullheads may grow to a maximum total length (TL) of 60 centimetres (24 in), though they are more commonly 22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) TL, [9] and can live up to 12 years. [10]
The yellow bullhead is a voracious scavenger that will almost eat anything. It locates prey by brushing the stream bottom with its barbels. Taste buds on the barbels tell the yellow bullhead whether or not contact is made with edible prey. They typically feed at night on a variety of plant and animal material, both live and dead, most commonly consisting of worms, [3] insects, snails, minnows, clams, crayfish, other small aquatic organisms, plant matter, and decaying animal matter. Compared to black and brown bullheads, yellow bullheads consume more aquatic vegetation. [3]
Yellow bullhead are bottom dwellers, living in areas with muck, rock, sand, or clay substrates. Its habitat includes river pools, backwaters, and sluggish current over soft or mildly rocky substrate in creeks, small to larger rivers, and shallow portions of lakes and ponds. Their habitat can vary from a slow current with poorly oxygenated, highly silted, and highly polluted[ citation needed ] water to a more swift current with clean and clear water that has aquatic vegetation. Fishermen often find them in sluggish creeks and rivers with a gravel bottom.
Bullheads have a monogamous relationship with spawning beginning in mid-May or early-June, with both sexes participating in nest-building. Bullheads usually use a natural cavity or make saucer-shaped depressions near submerged cover, such as tree roots or sunken logs. The female will lay anywhere from 300 to 700 eggs at a time in a gelatinous mass, with up to 4300 eggs deposited into the nest in total. [3] After fertilization the male protects and continually fans the nest of eggs. The eggs hatch in 5 to 7 days on average. [3] Young fry are herded into tight schools by the male and are protected by both parents until they are approximately two inches long. They grow to about three inches by one year of age. Sexual maturity is achieved after two to three years, by which time the fish have reached 140 millimetres (5.5 in) in length. [3]
Yellow bullhead have a wide range across the central and eastern US from the Rio Grande River to North Dakota and south-eastern Canada, and east through the Great Lakes region to the East Coast. [3] [11] They have also been introduced to the West [12] and can be caught as far up as northern Washington state.
Ameiurus natalis can serve as a host to the glochidia—larvae of freshwater mussels of family Unionidae—of Cyclonaias tuberculata , [13] Tritogonia verrucosa [14] and Strophitus undulatus . [3] [15] It is additionally parasitized by leeches. [3]
Yellow bullheads are considered a minor game fish, and their meat is considered sweet and has a good flavor, but the meat can become soft in summer. They are not as sought after as other catfish. They can be caught on natural baits such as worms, crickets or chicken liver fished on the bottom at night. [12]
Named both Ictalurus natalis and Ameiurus natalis. Ictalurus, Greek, meaning "fish cat"; Ameiurus, Greek, meaning "privative curtailed," in reference to the caudal fin lacking a notch; natalis, Latin, meaning "of birth." [16] Charles Alexandre Lesueur, when he originally described the species in 1819, invented a common name Pimelode Noël, which likely commemorates the naturalist Simon Barthélemy Joseph Noël de la Morinière (1765–1822) and also may be the source of the specific name he assigned (from French : Noel), though it was not explicitly stated in either case. [16] [17]
Bullhead may refer to:
The Ictaluridae, sometimes called ictalurids, are a family of catfish native to North America, where they are an important food source and sometimes fished for sport. The family includes about 51 species, some commonly known as bullheads, madtoms, channel catfish, and blue catfish.
The brown bullhead is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead and yellow bullhead. It was originally described as Pimelodus nebulosus by Charles Alexandre Lesueur in 1819, and is also referred to as Ictalurus nebulosus.
The channel catfish, known informally as the "channel cat", is North America's most abundant catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee. The channel catfish is the most fished species of catfish in the United States, with around 8 million anglers angeling them per year. The popularity of channel catfish for food has contributed to the rapid expansion of this species' aquaculture in the United States. It has also been widely introduced to Europe, Asia and South America, and many countries consider it an invasive species.
Lake Anna is one of the largest freshwater inland reservoirs in Virginia, covering an area of 13,000 acres (53 km2), and located 72 miles (116 km) south of Washington, D.C., in Louisa and Spotsylvania counties. The lake is easily accessible from Fredericksburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, Northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C., and is one of the most popular recreational lakes in the state.
The black bullhead or black bullhead catfish is a species of bullhead catfish. Like other bullhead catfish, it has the ability to thrive in waters that are low in oxygen, brackish, turbid, and/or very warm. It also has barbels located near its mouth, a broad head, spiny fins, and no scales. It can be identified from other bullheads as the barbels are black, and it has a tan crescent around the tail. Its caudal fin is truncated. Like virtually all catfish, it is nocturnal, preferring to feed at night, although young feed during the day. It generally does not get as large as the channel or blue catfish, with average adult weights are in the 1-to-2-pound range, and almost never as large as 4 pounds (1.8 kg). It has a typical length of 6–14 inches (15–36 cm), with the largest specimen being 24 inches (61 cm), making it the largest of the bullheads. It is typically black or dark brown on the dorsal side of its body and yellow or white on the ventral side.
Ameiurus is a genus of catfishes in the family Ictaluridae. It contains the three common types of bullhead catfish found in waters of the United States, the black bullhead, the brown bullhead, and the yellow bullhead, as well as other species, such as the white catfish, which are not typically called "bullheads".
The white bullhead, also known as the white catfish, is a member of the family Ictaluridae of the order Siluriformes.
Noturus flavus, the stonecat, is a North American freshwater catfish of the family Ictaluridae. The common name is due to its habit of hiding near or under stones in fast-moving water.
Ameiurus platycephalus, the flat bullhead, is a species of North American freshwater catfish native to the waters of the southeastern United States from Virginia to Georgia. This species grows to a maximum length of 29 cm (11 in) TL though it is more commonly about 23 cm (9 in) long.
The snail bullhead is a bony fish in the family Ictaluridae distributed widely in the southeastern United States. Among its bullhead catfish congeners, it has many North American relatives, like the brown bullhead and black bullhead. The species was described in 1877 by David Starr Jordan in the Ocmulgee River in Georgia.
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