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Some of the smallest species of Aspredinidae and Trichomycteridae reach sexual maturity at only 1 centimetre (0.39 in). Many catfish have a maximum length of under 12 cm. Catfish also have a maxilla reduced to a support for barbels this means that they are unable to protrude their mouths as other fish such as carp.Catfish have one of the greatest ranges in size within a single order of bony fish. Some have a mouth that can expand to a large size and contains no incisiform teeth catfish generally feed through suction or gulping rather than biting and cutting prey. A flattened head allows for digging through the substrate as well as perhaps serving as a hydrofoil. Catfish have a variety of body shapes, though most have a cylindrical body with a flattened ventrum to allow for benthic feeding. In general, they are negatively buoyant, which means that they will usually sink rather than float due to a reduced gas bladder and a heavy, bony head. These nicknames are not standardized, so one area may call a bullhead catfish by the nickname "chucklehead", while in another state or region, that nickname refers to the blue catfish. In the United States, catfish species may be known by a variety of slang names, such as "mud cat", "polliwogs", or "chuckleheads". They are the only ostariophysans that have entered freshwater habitats in Madagascar, Australia, and New Guinea. More than half of all catfish species live in the Americas. Catfish are most diverse in tropical South America, Asia and Africa with one family native to North America and one family in Europe. Many catfish are nocturnal, but others (many Auchenipteridae) are crepuscular or diurnal (most Loricariidae or Callichthyidae for example).Ĭatfish have inhabited all continents at one time or another.
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Many of the smaller species, particularly the genus Corydoras, are important in the aquarium hobby. Catfish are of considerable commercial importance many of the larger species are farmed or fished for food. Members of the Siluriformes order are defined by features of the skull and swimbladder. Despite their name, not all catfish have prominent barbel. There are armour-plated types and there are also naked types, neither having scales. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the candiru, Vandellia cirrhosa. Catfish ( order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish.