Trivia question for May-01-2011

Olivia likes fish but she said she is not a fan of these. Even so, here is her trivia for the day; These are voracious predatory fish that live in sluggish and stagnant freshwater habitats.

These European fish live on annelid worms, gastropods, insects, crustaceans, and fish including others of their own kind. The larger ones also eat frogs, mice, rats and aquatic birds such as ducks. Only the flesh of young specimens is valued as food. It is palatable when they weigh less than 33 lb. Larger than this size, the fish is highly fatty and not recommended for consumption. The eggs are poisonous and should not be consumed.

So here are Olivia’s questions: Tell us what this fish is and what are the preferred bait anglers use to catch these guys. Also, tell us how big these guys can get.

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to our good friends at Environmental Club (University of Belize) for being the first with the correct answer.  Great job guys.  The fish we featured is the European Catfish.  The European Catfish also called the wels catfish or sheatfish, is a large catfish found in wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, and near the Baltic and Caspian Seas. 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.

Anglers prefer ‘stink baits’ to catch catfish, including chicken entrails (yummy).  As for their size ,with a possible total length up to 3 m (9.8 ft) and a maximum weight of over 150 kg (330 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.  Here is more on these big fish.  European Catfish

Thanks for playing along 😉