Channel Catfish

The Channel Catfish is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee. Channel catfish possess very keen senses of smell and taste. At the pits of their nostrils are very sensitive odor-sensing organs, which can detect several amino acids at about one part per 100 million in water. In addition, the channel catfish has taste buds distributed over the surface of its entire body. This combination of exceptional senses of taste and smell allows the channel catfish to find food in dark, stained, or muddy water with relative ease. Channel Catfish are omnivores and can be seen to eat snails, clams, crustaceans, snakes, frogs, small fish, insects, aquatic plants, algae, seeds, grains, nuts, and even small birds and mammals occasionally.