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Learn more about the catfish, catfish farming, catfish cooking and just about everything related to catfish from the resources on Catfish Unlimited.com. Some common names for catfish - spotted catfish, river catfish, channel catfish.
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Chinese Catfish
Chinese Catfish, Namazu - Silurus asotus - Linnaeus
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The Chinese Catfish
Perhaps less widely known than its more familiar European cousin, the wels (Silurus glanis), Silurus asotus is one of the most widely distributed of all East Asian catfishes, being found throughout much of Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea and eastern Siberia. Silurus asotus looks like Silurus glanis at first glance, but differs from it in having only two (vs. four) mandibular barbels and fewer anal-fin rays.
Like all members of the genus, Silurus asotus are solitary, lurking predators, spending much of the day hiding amongst vegetation or in crevices maybe sometimes to ambush passing fishes and coming out at night to actively hunt prey seemingly by tracking their wakes. They are fairly easy fish to maintain at least in terms of water conditions, but definitely not in terms of tank space, although like many silurids, they are sensitive to high ammonia/nitrates.
Silurus asotus is widely sold and cultured as a food fish in east Asia, and perhaps because of this, much is known of the spawning behavior of this species. Like many other east Asian Silurus species, the spawning behavior of Silurus asotus consists of a fixed series of stereotyped behaviors in what is known as a "rigid reaction chain".
First the male chases the gravid female, who selects a suitable place to deposit her eggs. Once the nesting site is found, the female stops and the male swims in front of, or beyond the female’s head. The male proceeds to curl his caudal peduncle alongside her head and enfolds her head with it, vibrating his tail at the same time.
In some spawning instances, the male slips backwards until his abdomen and tail encircles the female’s abdomen. At other instances, the caudal peduncle and tail remain firmly wrapped around the female’s head. Wherever he is enfolding the head or the abdomen, the male then begins to apply pressure, squeezing the female while vigorously shaking his head. The female begins thrashing her body and shifts the male rearwards, before throwing him off with a quick flip of the back and a turn.
The pair then circles the nest site several times, before moving on to the next site and repeating the performance. It is not clear when the eggs and the sperm are released, but this apparently occurs at the moment the female throws off the encircling male.
The large size and the aggressive nature of the fish have spawned much folklore around it, none more so than in Japan, where this is probably their largest freshwater fish species.
The Japanese folklore that surrounds Silurus asotus is rich and diverse, and one article is simply not enough to cover all of it in fact, catfishes in Japanese folklore have been the subject of several scholarly works, including at least one book.
Some of the other lore and one of the most evocative tales, which is narrated below, stems from the mid-eighteenth century and involves giant catfish and earthquakes.
The Namazu, the Japanese name for Silurus is a giant catfish that lives in subterranean waters deep beneath the earth. On its head rests the kaname-ishi, a giant stone that resides in a shrine in the city of Kashima near Tokyo. Because of its geographic location, the stone is often erroneously referred to as the Kashima stone.
The purpose of the stone is to pin the catfish still, but the weight of the stone alone is not sufficient for that. The Kashima Deity (Kashima daimyojin) must assist by pushing down on the kaname-ishi. The Kashima Deity sometimes falls asleep, is distracted, or has to leave for a meeting in which case the deity Ebisu fills in, but Ebisu is frequently lax.
Whatever the case, these lapses in vigilance cause the pressure on the namazu to be relaxed, giving it some freedom of movement. The thrashing of the namazu would result in an earthquake, the intensity of which depended on the vigor of its movements. Eventually, the earthquakes would subside and it was deemed that the Kashima Deity was back in control of things.
Species Information
Notes on ID - Elongated, cylindrical body. 2 pairs of barbels, mandibular and maxillary. Small dorsal fin, anal fin connected with caudal fin. Dark brown to greenish yellow-brown back, light yellow to yellowish white belly. Average adult size is around 300~500mm. Fry have a second pair of mandibular barbels that fall off spontaneously when the fish reach a length of 60-70 mm.
An important food fish. Can often be seen in holding tanks in restaurants in China. Also used in Chinese medicine.
Just as Siluris glanis was the prototypical catfish in early Western civilization, Silurus asotus was the prototypical catfish in early Chinese civilization. Its original Chinese name "Nian", is now the root of the term "Nianke" for the order Siluriformes and of the common name "Nianyu" for all catfish.
Habitat Information - Distribution, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and Russian Far East.
Other Water Parameters - A hardy fish that can survive and thrive in a wide variety of water conditions, notably including wide variations in temperature.
Feeding - Carnivore. In the wild, eats smaller fish, crustaceans and insects.
Compatibility - Not recommended as an aquarium fish due to its large adult size and propensity to eat other fish.
Breeding - Sexually mature at two years. Spawns in May through July. Eggs are slightly sticky, yellowish green or green and spherical in shape.
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