The Savannah morning news., 1903-10-10
CATFISH AND ITS HABITS.
Interesting, Facts from the Report
of Fish Commissioner Bowers.

Interesting, Facts from the Report
of Fish Commissioner Bowers.
Special Washington Correspondence to
the Evening Post.
George NJ. Bowers, the fish commits
sioner, declares in a recent report that
the catfish had not been given the at
tenton it deserves, especially when the
amount of space devoted to the black
bass or the willy pike is taken into ac-
count. These Mr.. Bowers was inclined
to regard as the most intellectual fish
until he acquired a closer acquaintance
with the catfish through some investi-
cations made by Prof. Kendall of his
staff.
The catfish abhors running water. 1t
likes to find pond with muddy bot
tom on which it can repose after hav-
ing satisfied it's ravenous appetite. Prof.
Kendall says the appetite of an ordi-
nary catfish is a wonder. 1t eats inces-
sanity day and night, prowling along
the bottom of the pond or river with
its barbels widely spread, searching the
mud beneath and the water above Tor
it's prey. 1t is not fastidious. Any
thing from an angleworm to a piece of
tomato can is bolted with the greatest
relish. In the search of food it dis
plays great strategic ability. Prof.
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 barbcls 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 or
his victim. This fact alone, the Fish
Commission experts declare, is enough
to show that the cat is very INTEL
| lectual 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 tropS
| of educated pigs going about the coun-
| try this is no small compliment. The
| catfish knows the law of self-preser-
walton as well as any other of the nm
ny tribe. If the water becomes warm
| in summer, he survives because he
| knows how to make the best of 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 swim bladder, and even frog
| like or turtle-like, swallow air in bulk,
| trusting to stomach respiration.
Should the pond go entirely dry, the
| catfish will seek out some comfortable
| crack in the mud and lie dormant for
| the days or weeks until the pond nils
up again. He is a great lover of home,
| and when once comfortable settled In
a pond will move only on extraordi-
binary inducements. When the spring
freshets come the catfish does not per-
init himself to be washed out of home,
| as most other fishes do, for he burtes
| himself in the mud and If the flood
| dislodgeS him it only does so by car
| rying away the bottom of the pond.
After such catastrophe he hunts up
a new abode, even gives up his all COM
manding habit of eating until he is
situated again to his liking.
| The catfish takes exceptionally good
| care of his family. Both the male and
the female watch over the little ones.
and Prof. Kendall was agreeably sur
prised to find that the predaceouS
feeding habits of the old fish do not
go so far as to permit it to eat its
| own young, as do bass and other more
| highly esteemed fish Mr.. Kendall in
watching a pair of catfish raise their
| young, discovered 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 on to the
young fish from their mouths quite I'M
injured, the parent fish seeming to be
able to discriminate it's proper food.
The Fish Commission is of the opin-
ion that the catfish is much under
rated also by those who gauge it's COM
mercial value. They say that it is one
of the very best pan fishes. Its meat
is white. crisp and juicy, and of ex-
cellent flavor. The experts consider
i the flesh of the channel catfish super
Tor to that of the black bass, the wall
eye, the yellow perch, or any other
percoid fishes. Among fresh water
fish they say it is inferior only to the
white fish and the trout. The other
varieties Of catfish are not so good for
table purposes, but their flesh Is nutri-
tious and of a fair flavor.
Prof. 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 q
great deal of money made by raising
them in artificial ponds.