[vmfa] Re: Wels catfish
- From: "Steven Johnson" <blinddog3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vmfa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2015 08:28:46 -0600
That’s one scary fish!
Thanks, Ron!
From: vmfa-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:vmfa-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Dr. Ronald E. Milliman]\\`
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 8:18 PM
To: vmfa@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vmfa] Re: Wels catfish
My cursory research on the Wels Catfish reveals that it is found in Europe, but
it is not in North America. Here is some information I found:
The Wels Catfish is native to wide areas of central, southern, and eastern
Europe, and near the Baltic and Caspian Seas. It has been introduced to Western
Europe and is now found from the United Kingdom all the way east to Kazakhstan
and south to Greece. It is a scaleless fresh and brackish water fish
recognizable by its broad, flat head and wide mouth. Wels catfish can live for
at least thirty years and have very good hearing.
The wels catfish lives on annelid worms, gastropods, insects, crustaceans, and
fish including other catfishes; the larger ones also eat frogs, mice, rats, and
aquatic birds such as ducks. Recently, individuals of this species in
environments that are not their native habitats have been observed lunging out
of the water to grab pigeons on land.
With a possible total length up to 13 ft and a maximum weight of over 880 lb it
is the second largest freshwater fish in its region after the beluga sturgeon.
However, such lengths are extremely rare and could not be proved during the
last century, but there is a somewhat credible report from the 19th century of
a wels catfish of this size.
Most wels catfish are only about 4 ft – 5 ft long; fish longer than 6 1/2 ft
are normally extremely rare. At 5 ft they can weigh over 35 lb and at 7 ft,
they can weigh 143 lb.
Only under exceptionally good living circumstances can the wels catfish reach
lengths of more than 6 1/2 ft, as with the record wels catfish of Kiebingen
(near Rottenburg, Germany), which was a little over 8 ft long and weighed 196
lb. This giant was surpassed by some even larger specimens from Poland,
Ukraine, France, Spain (in the River Ebro), Italy (in the Po River and Arno
River), and Greece, where this fish was released a few decades ago. Greek wels
grow well thanks to the mild climate, lack of competition, and good food
supply.
Exceptionally large specimens are rumored to attack humans in rare instances, a
claim investigated by extreme angler Jeremy Wade in an episode of the Animal
Planet television series River Monsters following his capture of three fish,
two of about 145 lb and one of about 160 lb, of which two attempted to attack
him following their release. A report in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard on
5 August 2009, mentions a wels catfish dragging a fisherman near Győr, Hungary,
under water by his right leg after the man attempted to grab the fish in a
hold. The man barely escaped with his life from the fish, which must have
weighed over 220 lb, according to the fisherman.
Edited from:
Wels catfish – Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wels_catfish#Size
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