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Description:
The hardhead catfish is an elongate sea catfish with a compressed body form.
Its name comes from a rough bone that protects the top of its head.
Reaching up to 2 feet in length, body color is typically blue to gray or
brown dorsally, whitish ventrally. The mouth is inferior and has 3
pairs of barbels around it: one pair on the upper jaw, and 2 pairs
under the chin. However, sea catfish lack the pair of nasal barbels
common in freshwater catfish. There is an adipose fin, black in
color, located between the dorsal fin and the caudal fin. Erect spines
on both the dorsal and pectoral fins are potentially harmful when the fish
is handled.
Habitat:
Hardhead catfishes are found in shallow coastal waters, estuaries and river
mouths where there are sand or mud bottoms. They seldom enter
freshwater.
Range:
Hardhead catfishes range form North Carolina south through Florida, the Gulf
of Mexico and much of the Yucatan Peninsula.
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The hardhead catfish, Arius felis. Illustration by Diana Rome Peebles. Courtesyof Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Division of Marine Fisheries.
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Like other sea catfishes, the hardhead catfish is a mouth brooding species.
After spawning, one parent (usually the male) carry fertilized eggs in
the mouth until larvae hatch in approximately 1 month. Larvae may be
carried an additional 2 - 4 weeks until they mature into juvenile fishes.
Throughout the brooding period, the parent fish does not feed.
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