Posted 10-16-00

To find the answer to your question about why catfish have whiskers, Sci4Kids checked with Drew Mitchell, a fisheries biologist at the USDA's National Aquaculture Research Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas.

Ok, so why do catfish sport those whiskers?

"They didn't remember to shave," Mitchell jokes. Actually, the whiskers are loaded with tiny taste buds and olfactory sensors that help the fish search for food, he explains.

These sensitive whiskers are actually known as "barbels." Although catfish have tastebuds elsewhere on their bodies, most of them are located on the barbels.

American catfish generally have 4 chin barbels, and 2 mandible barbels on their upper lip. In murky water, for example, this helps catfish taste their way to food. This sense is also very closely tied to the catfish's sense of smell, Mitchell notes. "They're kind of like a bloodhound," he adds.

Hmm... interesting comparison.

Some of the catfish with the longest whiskers, or barbels, can be found in South America. There, some of these catfish can reach up to eight feet long, and have barbels that are nearly half that length, Mitchell says.

There are many different kinds of catfish, including river and channel catfish. In North America, "the most common catfish raised for food is the channel catfish," says Mitchell.

To learn more about these "bottom feeders," as some folks call catfish, Mitchell recommends checking out the The Fishes of Missouri. It's a book written by William Pflieger, and published by the Missouri Department of Conservation. In it, for example, you can learn about catfish facts such as the biggest specimen ever caught in the state that weighed in at 117 pounds!

-- Sci4Kids Staff and Drew Mitchell, fisheries biologist, National Aquaculture Research Center, Stuttgart, Arkansas.

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