Scientific Name:   Ictalurus punctatus
Common Names:   blue cat, fiddler cat, fork-tailed cat, river cat, and willow cat

Current State Record:   44.5 pounds, caught by Joe Purvis, 05/19/85 at Lake Bluff, Lake County, Florida

Range:   From the Panhandle of northwest Florida, east to the St. Johns River, and south along the peninsula to south of lake Okeechobee

Description:   Typically blue-gray on the back, to silvery gray on the sides, and white on the belly.  Has a  deeply  forked tail, rounded anal fin, and scattered black spots on the back and side.  Larger  channels lose their spots and also take on a blue-black coloration on the back which shades to  white on the belly.  The nose is somewhat pointed in younger channels, but flattens and broadens  in older fish.

Habitat:  More common in rivers and streams.  Prefers some current and sandy, gravely bottoms.   Channel catfish also inhabit lakes and reservoirs.  They adapt well in stocked ponds.

Spawning Habits:   Spawning occurs in both lakes and streams beginning in late spring and into summer.   Spawning occurs at temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees F.  Eggs are deposited in nests  secluded in cavities, under banks, in logs, in cans, old tires, and sometimes over open bottom.   The male constructs the nest and guards the eggs and young.  Females may deposit between  2,000 and 21,000 eggs.  The incubation period is from four to ten days depending on water temperature.  Males continue to protect fry after they begin to swim.  However, it is not uncommon  for the fry from several nests to join  up in a large ball.

Feeding Habits:   Larger channels more often feed at night using their system of taste buds in their barbels and throughout the skin to "smell" the food or prey.  Like other catfish species, channels  feed on the bottom.  However, they will also feed and mid-water depths as well as on or near the  surface.  Small channels eat small aquatic invertebrates (insect larvae, insects, and worms).   Larger channels eat aquatic insects, crayfish, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish.  Frogs, small turtles and parts of birds have been found in stomachs of large channels.