Eel-like fishes and catfishes
Description
To 19" (48 cm); 5 1/2 lbs (2.5 kg). Robust, heavy, rounded anteriorly; back olive to black; sides lighter, strongly mottled with brownish blotches, but juveniles may be black; belly whitish; fins dusky to black. Mouth terminal, upper jaw slightly longer than lower; 4 pairs of barbels, barbels on upper jaw long, reaching past base of pectoral fin; chin barbels dusky or black. Pectoral fin spine with strong serrations on rear edge; adipose fin present; anal fin has 21-24 rays, length of its base shorter than head length.
Related Species
Snail Bullhead (I. brunneus) has uniform body color, not mottled, 17-20 anal fin rays; inhabits moderate to swift streams over sand or rocks from S. Virginia south to E. Alabama and N. Florida. Flat Bullhead (I. platycephalus) has strongly depressed head; median fins with narrow, black edge; inhabits slow streams over sand or mud on Atlantic Coast from S. Virginia to central Georgia.
Habitat
Clear water in deep pools with submerged vegetation.
Range
Nova Scotia west to SE. Saskatchewan; central E. United States; widely introduced outside native range.
Discussion
The Brown Bullhead appears to be intolerant of silty, polluted waters. It has been raised commercially and widely stocked in ponds and lakes.
