Amur Catfish

Fascinating facts about the Amur Catfish

• The Amur catfish grows roughly 20–50 cm annually, allowing it to reach lengths of several tens of centimeters within a few years.
• Its maxillary barbels stretch longer than its head, while the mandibular pair measures about 20-30 % of that length.
• A single clutch can hatch in just over a day – at warm spring temperatures the green-tinged eggs burst open in roughly 27 hours, stretching to 48 hours when the water cools. Such speed turns a brief rainy season into a full generation, highlighting how temperature drives their reproductive clock.
• Even though females dominate the population, a male will chase, clasp, and squeeze a single female during mating, a dance observed in Japan’s Lake Biwa. This one-on-one ritual explains why the species can maintain numbers despite the skewed sex ratio.
• Listed as “least concern” worldwide but “near threatened” in Taiwan, the catfish’s numbers have slipped sharply over recent decades, yet it still fuels local diets and sport fishing. Its decline reminds us that a fish prized for food can quickly become a conservation warning sign.

At a glance

About the Amur Catfish

The Amur catfish (Silurus asotus) is a hulking silurid with a white-streaked belly and sporadic white spots along its olive-green to yellowish-brown sides. Its flattened, broad head bears a terminal mouth armed with countless tiny, sharp teeth, while long, filamentous barbels, one pair maxillary longer than the head and a pair of mandibular barbels about a quarter that length, sweep the murky bottom as it prowls at night. Growing up to 130 cm and 30–40 kg, the species typically measures 30–60 cm, adding roughly 20–50 cm each year and can reach lengths of 1.5 m under optimal conditions. It inhabits the slow-moving rivers, irrigation canals, lakes and ponds of China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, the Russian Amur Basin and northern Vietnam, favouring warm waters of 20–27 °C and dense underwater vegetation that offers both cover and ambush points. Nocturnal by nature, the Amur catfish descends to the substrate to hunt, using its sensitive barbels to locate aquatic insects, crustaceans and smaller fish. Its expandable mouth lets it tackle surprisingly large prey, and its nocturnal feeding is linked to a swollen swim bladder that limits buoyancy, keeping it close to the bottom. During the spring-summer rains, females release green-tinged eggs that hatch in as little as 27 hours in warm water, a rapid development that can stretch to 48 hours in cooler streams. A striking trait of this species is the extra pair of mandibular barbels found only in juveniles measuring 6–7 cm, a fleeting adaptation that disappears as they mature, hinting at a complex ontogenetic shift in sensory strategy.

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