What kind of catfish is this?

[Chrisingeorgia]

Anybody know what kind of cat this is? I thought it was a blue at first but someone told me it might be a white catfish and now I'm confused.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/RipeWithDecay_2006/6-17-20070163.jpg

[Eithne]

Chris, here is a link from the BOC Library on identifying catfish. In the end, the surest way to tell is to count the rays on the anal fin.

http://www.catfish1.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39984

I hope this helps.

[river scum]

i would guess it to be a channel cat brother.

[Chrisingeorgia]

I thought channel's were much lighter in color with speckles on the sides and a narrower head. I was actually holding a channel in the hand that I cropped out that's about the same size. Here's the full pic.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j161/RipeWithDecay_2006/TugalooStatePark6-17-20070146.jpg

[gcarlin]

looks to be a small blue but i'm no expert.

[Chrisingeorgia]

I'm no expert either. I'm almost ashamed for asking someone else to ID my fish for me. I didn't even know there was more than one species of freshwater cat until few years ago thanks to this place.

[Netmanjack]

Chris, it is a male channel. Channels loose their spots with age. When they are in the spawning mode the males heads swell up like that. Whether it is for fighting, attracting a female or moving rocks, your guess is as good as mine. lol

[river scum]

i said channel because of the rounded looking anal fin, color can very.

[poisonpits]

cris as the channel cats get older and bigger they lose that silver color and go more to the yellowish green you see on the fish in your pic.it is a channel cat.

[Chrisingeorgia]

At least my buddy's guess was as wrong as mine. I don't have to pay up now. :lol:

[tofish]

i was gonna guess channel also. didn't know about males changing colors and head swelling (guess all us males get swelled heads once in awhile.) but anal and tail fin did look like channel. hard to tell from a back shot though.
gary

[CATFISHPAT]

Hey Bro that is a Channel Catfish 100% .............:spiderman:

[CJ21]

Thats a channel cat, Chris.

[crmule]

Just to be sure ,clean the fish real good and freese ,then pack him in dry ice and UPS him to me and I will gladly do a taste test .That is free of charge and garinteed to satisfiy my hunger for cat fish
have fun and feel free to ask for my help anytime
be well mule

[TX Fisherman]

looks like a channel, nice fish though

[Ictalurus Punctatus]

Definitely *Not* a white catfish. Looks like a channel to me.

Jon

[Chrisingeorgia]

Yeah, I've never seen a channel before with such a wide head and mouth so it had me thinking it must be something else. Had no idea the males and females were so different. I learn something new everyday.

[bodi]

your unidentified cat fish is a male channel

[large1]

definately a male channel set to spawn

[south_va_fisherman]

My guess would be a channel. If it is a white cat, thats one hell of fish, they rarely get that big.

[massa_jorge]

definitely a male channel. they say channels lose their spots with age, but i disagree. we got a 23 pound female a few years ago that was covered in spots.
i have heard different reasons why males get that big ol head. i don't know which is true, but i do know you can fillet the meat off the head and fry it up too.
oh yeah, if mule is too far away, i'd be glad to eat it and tell ya what it is,:lol:.
good fishin to ya.