Catfish, the animal kingdom-Chordata-Chordata subfamily-Actinidia-Siluriformes-Siluridae-Siluridae-Catfish species. There are four beards on the mouth, long on the top and short on the bottom. They are carnivorous, mostly wild, and have low requirements for water quality, so they can be cultured artificially. The growth rate is faster, and some varieties can grow to a large size.
Catfish head is flat and hard, occipital bone is wide, body is slender, front part is cylindrical, back part is flat, head is wide and flat, body surface is smooth and scaleless, mouth is slightly lower, and there are dense villous teeth on upper jaw, lower jaw and plough bone, forming dental band. There are 4 pairs of well-developed tentacles with obvious lateral lines and relatively straight eyes.
The dorsal fin is very long, accounting for about 2/3 of the body length, and the anal fin is also very long, with no hard spines and no connection with the caudal fin. The pectoral fin is short and round with well-developed spines, which has the functions of defending the enemy and supporting action. The side of pectoral fin is generally grayish brown, with many grayish-white striped patches and black spots on it. The abdomen is white, and the dorsal fin and ventral fin extend especially, ending at the base of caudal fin, which is circular and fan-shaped. The body is brown and black; The abdomen is very shallow.
The meat is tender and delicious, rich in nutrition and has certain medicinal value. It has the effects of enriching blood, nourishing kidney, regulating middle energizer and nourishing yin, so it is regarded as a good nourishing product, a common edible fish in South China and an important species exported to Hong Kong and Macao.
In China, it is distributed from Hainan Island in the south to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and from Yunnan in the west to Taiwan Province Province in the east. Belonging to small benthic fishes in subtropical zone. It often lives in rivers with weeds, caves or dark places in tropical areas, ponds, ditches and swamp rice fields.