Blue catfish
Scientific name: Ictalurus furcatus (Valenciennes, 1840)
Overview
The blue catfish is a large species of North American catfish, reaching a length of 65 in (170 cm) and a weight of 143 lb (65 kg). The continent's largest catfish, it can live to 20 years, with a typical fish being between 25–46 in (64–117 cm) and 30–70 lb (14–32 kg). Native distribution is primarily in the Mississippi River and Louisiana drainage systems, including the Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Arkansas Rivers, the Des Moines River in south-central Iowa, the Rio Grande, and south along the Gulf Coast to Belize and Guatemala.
From the Wikipedia article “Blue catfish”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022.2.
Where it lives
Common names
Names in other languages (6)
- Arabic
- سلور أزرق
- Chinese
- 长鳍真𫚔
- French
- Poisson-chat bleu
- German
- Blauer Katzenwels
- Persian
- گربهماهی آبیرنگ
- Spanish
- bagre azul
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: FishBase.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q882644, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Blue catfish”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Duane Raver - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Andrew69., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026