The most convenient description of the Danube catfish (or wels) is that it resembles a giant tadpole fed on anabolic steroids! Its head is wide and somewhat flattened, and the jaws are huge. A pair of very long barbules arise from the upper jaw; there are four smaller feelers protruding from the lower jaw. The long, flattened body tapers towards a relatively small, paddle-shaped tail. The dorsal fin – just behind the head – is short, but there is no adipose fin on the back, a feature which distinguishes the wels from the several species of American catfish which sometimes turn up in our fisheries. The anal fin forms a long ‘curtain’ which runs along much of the fish’s belly.
Small-eyed and scaleless
As befits a fish which feeds mainly by smell, sound and touch, the nostrils are large and widely-spaced; in contrast, the eyes are small. Interestingly, the body is devoid of scales, a. fact which accentuates the black, blue-brown and olive colour of the back and the creamy yellow flanks which are usually mottled with dark spots. To compensate for the lack of scales, the skin is covered in a thick layer of protective mucus which, as with most freshwater fish, helps prevent water flooding into the fish.
Nothing escapes
The Danube catfish is an opportunist feeder, often feeding at night when it scavenges on invertebrates (notably swan mussels), live and dead fish, small amphibians, etc. Small water birds and mammals are not immune from attack, and escape is virtually impossible once the jaws close due to the numerous small, backward-pointing teeth inside the mouth. It is thought that food items are often located by sound – the catfish is especially able at detecting underwater noises due to the linkage of the swim bladder to the ears via a series of small bones which amplify sound.
British catfish are mere midgets compared to their cousins abroad, which grow to more than 200lb in many waters, In Eastern European countries, where catfish are caught for food, fish of almost l,000lb are said to have been taken by commercial fishermen.
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