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Paul A.Scharf (1) Allan James (1 Stamp), Frants Lehmann (1 Stamp) Johnny Jensen's Photographic Library (2)

Habitat: Hardhead catfish are found mostly in the near-shore waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean, around the southeast coast of the United States, around the Florida Keys and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They are also found in brackish estuaries and river mouths where the bottom is sandy or muddy, but only occasionally enter freshwater. It tends to move from shallower to deeper waters in the winter months. The species is generally common to abundant within its range. Description: The hardhead catfish has four barbels under the chin, with two more at the corners of the mouth. These barbels help the catfish find crabs, fish, and shrimp in the muddy bays where they live. The dorsal and pectoral fins each are supported by a sharp, slime-covered, barbed spine. The dorsal spine is normally erect when the fish is excited and a tennis shoe or even a leather-soled shoe offers little protection. The gafftopsail catfish looks similar to the hardhead catfish, but its dorsal and pectoral spines have a distinctive fleshy extension (like the fore-and-aft topsail of a ship).

Hardhead sea catfish

Silurus felis, Arius milberti, Arius equestris, Galeichthys guentheri, Sciades felis

Ariidae

Southeastern North America: United States and Mexico. Type locality: (for Silurus felis) Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. U.S.A.

60cm (24ins)

20-27°c (67-81°f)

7.0-8.5.

www.inaturalist.org/
Marceniuk, Alexandre P.; Menezes, Naércio A. (2007). "Systematics of the family Ariidae (Ostariophysi, Siluriformes), with a redefinition of the genera" Zootaxa 1416: 1–126.