# Mystery Fish



## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

Caught this catfish yesterday. Never seen one like it before. It was the same color as a blue cat, but was shorter and fatter with a bigger head. It also had shorter fins/spines and a huge mouth. The little bugger also stayed alive in the cooler for about 18hrs.
It's not a blue, channel, white or bullhead, as i have looked all of them up.

ANY IDEAS?


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

great. wtf? red X's.....wtf


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## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

Come on VA Boy, I have faith in you with these pics....


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## MetroMan (Mar 7, 2009)

Assist for the catastrophic failure LOL!!


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

the pic king has been dethroned. thanks for the assist Metro.


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## cobiacatcher (Feb 9, 2009)

could be some sort of a hybrid


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## UOPaul (Apr 14, 2008)

I am not trying to start any moral debate here. But honestly if you did not know for a fact what it was, you should not have kept it. How do you know it is not some breed with strict limits on size? 

Anyway, I think it is just a channel cat that eats too much.


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

Channel cat, IMHO.


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## chris storrs (Aug 25, 2005)

looks like a fat blue to me....


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## chris storrs (Aug 25, 2005)

or channel like nj said..never been good at dstinguishing tween the two...can count the fin rays if ya wana get scientific..i never cared enough


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

I can tell best by looking at the tail.

But no good tail shot in them pics.

Those small spots on the body are another indication it's a channel.

But I'm no expert.


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## drawinout (May 11, 2008)

I was thinking channel cat as well. I'm not a catfish expert, but I caught tons of them on the Perquimans river when I was a kid... Would catch them every night from around 3 to 15 pounds.. Whatever we were catching, it was the same thing you have on that table, and we called them channel cats....... I'd be interested to know what it is if it's a different species..


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## sirstreet (Dec 11, 2008)

looks like a blue count the rays(spines) on the anal fin.30 or more she's a blue


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## sirstreet (Dec 11, 2008)

sirstreet said:


> looks like a blue count the rays(spines) on the anal fin.30 or more she's a blue


better yet i may be wrong again cout the anal fins spines.It may be a white catfish
fin rays
19-23 white
30 or more blue
24-29 channel
17-21 black bull

lets us know


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## jhmorgan (May 16, 2007)

Im going with: catfish


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## Rolo (Nov 6, 2008)

It looks a like a Black Bullhead. It is hard to tell from the photos.

Rolo


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## redgrappler (Nov 18, 2005)

No doubt. I looked it up on the marine biology guide. It's a kitten-fish. Or a midget-cat.


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

being as it's in the trash right now(minus 2 fillets)....I'm debating whether to dig it out and count the anal fin rays.

As for the tail, it was much smaller than a blue cat.


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## keezy (Jul 1, 2003)

I'd say it was a really fat white-cat. They are the ugliest of all catfish and good lord that thing is as ugly as it gets. How much do you think it weighed?


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

White catfish and channel's can crossbreed sometimes, and that's more than likely what that is.


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## Rocks&Reds (Mar 15, 2007)

White Cat!


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## wdbrand (May 24, 2007)

*Looks like our ole mudcat,*

up here in the mounteens. James, Shendoa and New.


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

Keez, it weighed about 2lbs. Someone else caught one today that was identical to that one.


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## cannotlogin (Sep 1, 2008)

Well acording ti my friend that knows this that and the other about fish in VA "its a weird fish, I don't know maybe a huge bullhead".


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## Newsjeff (Jul 22, 2004)

Still say it's a channel.


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

Newsjeff said:


> Still say it's a channel.


That and flathead are the only ones that I'm 100% sure it's NOT.
Here's one more pic:


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## noypi (Aug 28, 2008)

channel


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## Out Sick (May 27, 2006)

He sure looks allot bigger in that last picture don't he? He looks huge comapared to 2lbs! Whatever he is, the little guy was well fed. He had a really wide mouth on em and wide flat head. Almost looked blue with dark green layed in. It was definantley a different sort of fish. I tend to agree with the basstardo on it.


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

noypi said:


> channel


I've caught literally hundreds of channels. it is NOT a channel. too fat, head too round, wrong coloration, no speckles.


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## Lip Ripper (Dec 8, 2003)

ok, what isnt it? its not a blue(heads too big) not a flathead(wrong mouth) i say its a hot ditch croaker.


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

Lip Ripper said:


> ok, what isnt it? its not a blue(heads too big) not a flathead(wrong mouth) i say its a hot ditch croaker.


It's a Surry Nuclear Isotopefish.


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## striperswiper (Nov 30, 2004)

deffinetly not a channel. they have dots and are kinda shiny like a silver/blue or something. Either way its a little slimy tasty catfish


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

jackleaxe said:


> What did it taste like?


like marinated, batter-fried catfish!


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## virginia boy 1 (May 8, 2003)

update: 
I have it from a catfish fishing expert that it is just a really fat White cat.


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## bbcroaker (Jan 6, 2005)

Cross tween a white Cat and an Oyster Toad


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## [email protected] (Jan 28, 2003)

james river mudcat


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## mitchmtm1 (Aug 11, 2003)

Agreed....fat white. Catfish sometimes get a fat head prior to spawn also. (that sounds stupid, but is true)


Mitch


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## dirtyhandslopez (Nov 17, 2006)

mitchmtm1 said:


> Agreed....fat white. Catfish sometimes get a fat head prior to spawn also. (that sounds stupid, but is true)
> 
> 
> Mitch


Don't we all?


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## readyrock (Mar 2, 2009)

It's not a channel . Definitely a white . I catch them all the time while perch fishing . We call them turd wrestlers


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