The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-09-27

STUDY OF THE CATFISH
Government Expert Reports
Their Interesting Habit.
GREAT AMOUNT OF SENSE
Preserve Their Lives Better
Than Many People.

Washington, Sept. 26.-George NJ. Bow
ers. the fish commissioner declares in a
recent report that the catfish had not
been given the attention it deserves es-
peciaHy when the amount of space de-
voted to the black bass or the willy pike
is taken into consideration. These Mr..
Bowers was inclined to regard as the
most intellectual fish until he acquired a
closer acquaintance with the catfish
through some Investigations made by
Professor Kendall of his stat.
The catfish abhors running water II
likes to find pond with a muddy bot
tom on which it can repose after having
satisfied its ravenous appetite. Professor
Kendall says the appetite of an ordinary
catfish is a wonder. 1t eat necessarily
day and night, prowling along the bot
tom Of the pond or river with its barbels
widely spread, searching the mud beneath
and the water above for its prey. 1t is
not fastidious. Anything from an angle
worm 70 q piece of tomato can is bolted
with the greatest relish. In the search of
food it displays great strategic ability
Professor Kendall has watched catfish
carefully select a spot where the mud is
the same color as their dark skin, bury
their yellow stomachs in the mud with
only barbels and dusky forehead ex-
posed, and then wait for hours for the
unwary prey. When it comes along out
darts the catfish. and that is the end of
his victim. This fact alone, the fish com
mission experts declare. is enough to
show that the cat is a very intellectual
fish.
But there are other reasons for boast
ing of his brain power. The experts say
that the species is easily tanned, and can
be trained like pigs. When it is recalled
that there are several troops of educated
pigs going about the country this is no
small compliment. The catfish knows the
law of preservation as well as any
other of the finny tribe. If the water be-
comes warm in summer, he survives be-
couSe he knows how to make the best of
a bad situation. Should the air supply in
the water fail, the catfish. instead OF
turning up on his back will set about
taking care of himself. He will come TO
the surface. leisurely renew the air in
his swimming bladder and even, frog-like
or turtle-like, swallow air in bulk. trust
ing to stomach respiration.
Should the pond go entirely dry. tn.
crack in the mud and lie dormant fer
days or weeks until the pond fills Up
again. He is a great lover of home and
when once comfortably settled in a pond
will move only on extraordinary induce
ments. When the spring freshets come
the catfish does not permit himself to be
washed out of home. as most other fishes
do, for he buries himself in the mud and
9;-l1I Ii. 81
by carrying away the bottom of the pond.
After such a catastrophe he hunts up a
new abode. even giving up his all COM
manding habit of eating until he is sit |
uated again to his liking.
The catfish takes exceptionally good |
care of his family. Eoth the male and |
the female watch over the little ones,
and Professor Kendall was agreebly sur
prised to find that the predaceous feed |
ing habits of the old fish do not go so |
far as to permit it TO eat it's own young |
as do bass and other more highly es-
teemed fish. Mr.. Kendall in watching |
u pair of old catfish raise their young dis
covered that when he threw pieces OF
beef liver into the pond for the young
the old fish would seize it and apparently
swallow it, together with the dozens of
little catfish which were eating at and
hanging onto the meat. They invariably
injected the young fish from their mouths
quite uninjured. the parent fish seeming
TO be able TO discriminate it's proper food
The fish commission is of the opinion
that the catfish is much moderated also
by those who gauge its commercial value.
They say that it is one of the very best
pan fishes. Its meat is white. crisp and
juicy. and of excellent flavor The ex-
perts consider the flesh of the channel
catfish superior to that of the black bass.
the wall eye. the yellow perch. or any
other percoid fishes. Among fresh water
fish they say 1t is inferior only to the
white fish and the trout The other va
rieties of catfish are not so good for
table purposes, but their flesh is nutri-
tious and of fair flavor.
Professor Kendall calls this the poor
mans fish. and predicts that when the
public comes TO know the merits of the
catfish better there will be a great deal
of money made by raising them in arti-
fetal ponds.