Catfish & Bullhead

How to tell them apart

One identification cue for each species, from its profile. Open a profile for the full description, size and range.

Channel Catfish

The deeply forked tail and the rounded anal fin distinguish it from the similar blue catfish, which has a straight-edged anal fin, and from the flathead catfish, which has a flat head and a squared tail.

Yellow Bullhead

Yellow bullhead are yellowish to olive with a pale belly, and are told from the black and brown bullheads by their whitish chin barbels and a squared rather than notched tail.

Black Bullhead

Black bullhead are dark olive to black above with a pale belly, dark chin barbels, and a slightly notched tail, distinguishing them from the white-barbeled yellow bullhead.

Wels Catfish

A long, scaleless, almost eel-like body with a broad flattened head and a wide mouth lined with tiny rasping tooth pads.

Blue Catfish

The single most reliable identification feature is the anal fin: a blue catfish's anal fin is long, straight-edged, and squared off, with 30 to 35 rays - distinctly different from the rounded, shorter anal fin of the similar channel catfish.

Flathead Catfish

The flathead is unmistakable once you know it. The head is broad, flattened, and shovel-shaped - the source of the name - with small eyes set high.

Bullhead Catfish

The defining feature that separates bullheads from the larger channel and blue catfish is the tail: bullheads have a squared-off or only slightly notched tail, never the deep fork of a channel cat.

White Catfish

The tail is moderately forked, which separates it from the square or rounded tails of the bullheads, while its smaller size and pale chin barbels separate it from the much larger channel catfish.

Brown Bullhead

The eight barbels around the mouth are the classic catfish whiskers; on a brown bullhead the chin barbels are dark, which helps separate it from the pale-barbeled white catfish.

How big can a catfish get?

In North America the blue catfish is the biggest, reaching 65 inches (170 cm) and 143 pounds (65 kg); the wels catfish of Europe grows larger still, with an authenticated fish of 134.97 kg (297.6 lb). Most catfish anglers meet are far smaller, as the typical sizes show.