CATFISH AND IT'S SPECIES

Catfish belongs to order siluriforms and are among marin-species found in most parts of the world. Over 2,000 species have been recorded of which over half are in south America but at present only one family is used for large-scale comercial farming; the North America catfish family, the Ictaluridae. Attemps are being made to farm some of the south American catfish but as yet there is no significant farming of them. There is however a long tradition of catfish farming in the far East where members of the pangasiidae and the clariidae are farmed.
Family: Ictaluridae; species, Ictalurus punctatus and Ictalurus furcatus, the channel catfish and the blue catfish farmed in the USA.
Family: pangasiidae; species, pangasius sutchi farmed in Thailand, cambodia and Vietnam. Pangasius larnaudi and pangasius sutchi farmed in laos and india.
Family: Clariidae; species, Clarias batrachus and Clarias microcephalus farmed in Thailand.
All the catfish used in farming are frshwater species. Catfish do not have their skin covered by the usual scales but have either a naked skin or one covered with bony plates. This is a useful factor for the farmer as it means that the catfish can be handled easily without the danger of rubbing off scales and so damaging the skin.
Catfish spawn readily in ponds in shallow water where the eggs are laid in a nest and gurded by the male.
Catfish are omnivorous and bottom feeders. They are warm water fish with a temperature of 16 to 30 c.

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