SCOTCAT.COM  

your internet guide to all things catfish
≡
  • HOME
  • FACTSHEETS
    • By Month/Year
    • By Family
    • by Genus
    • by Common Names
    • By Specific Names
    • By Continent
      • Index
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Australasia
      • Europe
      • North America
      • South America
  • GALLERIES
    • Photo Gallery
    • Art Gallery
    • Movie Gallery
    • Stamps Gallery
  • FAMILIES
    • A-B
      • Ailiidae
      • Akysidae
      • Amblycipitidae
      • Amphiliidae
      • Anchariidae
      • Ariidae
      • Aspredinidae
      • Astroblepidae
      • Auchenipteridae
      • Austroglanididae
      • Bagridae
    • C-D
      • Callichthyidae
      • Cetopsidae
      • Chacidae
      • Clariidae
      • Claroteidae
      • Cranoglanididae
      • Diplomystidae
      • Doradidae
    • E-H
      • Erithistidae
      • Heptapteridae
      • Heteropneustidae
      • Horabagridae
    • I-M
      • Ictaluridae
      • Lacantuniidae
      • Loricariidae
      • Malapteruridae
      • Mochokidae
    • N-P
      • Nematogenyidae
      • Pangasiidae
      • Phreatobiidae
      • Pimelodidae
      • Plotosidae
      • Pseudopimelodidae
    • S-T
      • Schilbeidae
      • Scoloplacidae
      • Siluridae
      • Sisoridae
      • Trichomycteridae
  • ARTICLES
    • Index
    • Breeding
    • By Author
    • Cat-Articles
    • General
    • Numbered List
    • Ichthyology
    • Travel/Collecting
  • IDENT-A-CAT
  • RESOURCES
    • Citation
    • Etymology
    • Fishhouse
    • Glossary
    • Scientific Papers
    • ScotShop
  • SITE MAP
  • FB GROUP
  • HELP
    • Index
    • Catfish Anatomy
    • Convertors
    • FAQ
    • Ident-A-Cat
    • Water Chemistry

FACTSHEETS: March 1997 - no. 005

Ameiurus melas Rafinesque, 1820


he 'Black Bullhead' grows to the same size in the aquarium as Ameiurus nebulosus, the 'Brown Bullhead'. In the early days of my fishkeeping they were abundant in coldwater sections of the aquatic shops, small specimens in amongst Goldfish!  I lost count of the times I was contacted, to be asked if I would take a large Bullhead which had eaten or was about to eat their Goldfish, but they are not so common now in the U.K. shops.


Ameiurus melas

Ameiurus melas

 

A good fish to house on its own in your fishhouse/room, to take culled and deformed fishes (but not diseased.) As I recall I had to house two in the same tank and one killed the other during the night! ( you live and learn.)

One thing they do have in common with catfish from the Asian continent is that they possess 4 pairs of barbels (chin barbels grey-black or spotted) unlike the catfish forms of South America who in the whole have three pairs. This can be a good way to identify your catfish if you are not too sure from where it originates from.

 

Ameiurus melas = juvenile

Ameiurus melas - juvenile

 

There is now moves afoot by the U.K. Government through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAAF) to impose restrictions on some coldwater species like the above mentioned Black Bullhead, due to the dangers of introduction to native waters and the threat to its occupants through disease and predation. In other words you could be paying up to £30 for a license to keep them.

In the future due to the exporters having to implement new guidelines on matters such as health records for each fish, they could become quite rare in the U.K.

 

Update: As of November 1998 in the U.K.you must have a licence to keep the above species. This licence is now issued free, but does take a few months to process. For more information log on to the DEFRA site.

 

Common Name

Black Bullhead

Synonyms

Silurus melas, Ictalurus melas

Family

Ictaluridae

Subfamily

Ictalurinae

Distribution

North America: Great Lakes in Canada and U.S.A. to northern Mexico.

Size

40.0cm. (16ins)

Temp.

08-30°C (45-87°F)

p.H.

6.0-7.5.

Characteristics

Dorsal 1/6; Anal 17-21; Pectorals; 1/8. Ventrals 8; Hind edge of pectoral spine rough, but without serrations. Caudal peduncle short, moderately deep, caudal fin emarginate. Head large, rounded above; eyes small; mouth terminal, short, wide. Adipose fin present.

Colouration

Colouration variable:upperside greenish, yellowish, brownish or slaty-olive, sides lighter, underside bright yellow, yellow or milk-white. Fins normally conspicuously darker than the adjacent parts of the body. Anal base pale, distal two-thirds between the rays black; in young fishes less than 10cm. in length the entire fins may be black.

Aquarium Care & Compatibility

The North American ' Black Bullhead' adapts well to aquarium conditions but do bare in mind that it does grow big along with the capable size of its mouth! so if housing with other temperate fish you would be better going for larger stock such as yellow perch or the larger sunfishes. Putting them in with goldfish is not a good idea, not for the poor goldfish anyway!. They adapt well to most aquarium conditions as long as you give them a cave of some sort and to keep the lighting down to a minimum for viewing purposes.

Reproduction

In its natural habitat in early spring the females lays its eggs in the substrate and one or both parents guards them, the eggs can number into the thousands. The resulting fry are protected by both parents. Difficult to distinguish between sexes but the female is noticeably fuller in the breeding season.

Diet

Adults eat just about everything, pellet food, tablet food, frozen bloodworm, earthworms, shrimps and prawns.

Etymology

Ameiurus: A reference to the tail.
melas: Black.

References

Schleser, David M. North American Fishes for the Home Aquarium.
The Audubon Society, Field guide to North American Fishes, Whales & Dolphins.

Photo Credits

Top: © Allan James @ ScotCat
Bottom: © David Proudfit

Donate towards my web hosting bill!


If you would like to contribute to the monthly factsheets with an article, information or photos, please e-mail me. You will of course be credited for your work.

If you would like to donate any denomination of money to the site just click the above link button. All proceeds will go to running the site and hopefully to keep it going for a few years yet.


ScotCat Sources

Article Article

Article Article

Etymology = Genus Etymology-genera

Etymology = Species Etymology-specific name

 

Online Sources

Search  Search

Fishbase Fishbase

Wikipedia Wikipedia

Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes

Global Biodiversity Information Facility GBIF

FishNet2 Fishnet2

iNaturalist iNaturalist

  • Facebook about us + contact us + citation + translate + site map + scotshop + glossary + etymology +
  • help YouTube

©2023 SCOTCAT.COM