Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Catfish |
CatfishNoun1. Flesh of scaleless food fish of the southern United States; often farmed. 2. Large ferocious northern deep-sea food fishes with strong teeth and no pelvic fins. 3. Any of numerous mostly freshwater bottom-living fishes of Eurasia and North America with barbels like whiskers around the mouth. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "catfish" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1550. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | Order of fish. Source: European Union. (references) |
Health | Common name to express the order Siluriformes. This order contains many families and over 2,000 species, including venomous species. Heteropneustes and Plotosus genera have dangerous stings and are aggressive. Most species are passive stingers. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Catfish are a very diverse group of fish. They are found in freshwater environments of all kinds, with species on every continent except Antarctica. Some species from the families Ariidae and Plotosidae are also found in marine environs. They range in size and behavior from the largest freshwater fish in the world (the European wels, or Silurus glanis), to detritivores (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the candiru (Vandellia cirrhosa). At present there are 35 catfish families, although this number is in constant flux due to taxonomic work on the order.
Catfish Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Order: Siluriformes They belong to a superorder called the Ostariophysi, which also includes the Cypriniformes, Characiformes, and Gymnotiformes (although some place Gymnotiformes as a sub-order of Siluriformes).
Catfish have no scaless. All catfish, except members of Malapteruridae (electric catfish), posses a strong, hollow, bonified leading ray on their dorsal and pectoral fins, through which a stinging protein can be delivered if the fish is irritated. In members of the family Plotosidae, and of the genus Heteropneustes, this protein is so strong it may hospitalize humans unfortunate enough to receive a sting.
Catfish are important food fish throughout the world. Ictalurids are cultivated in North America, while Clariids and Pangasiids are heavily cultured in Africa and Asia. There is also a large and growing ornamental fish trade, with catfish a popular component of many aquaria.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Catfish."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| CAA | English | Catfish | Food & Agriculture, Biology & Biotechnology |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: CatfishSynonyms: mudcat (n), siluriform fish (n), wolf fish (n), wolffish (n). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Catfish |
| English words defined with "catfish": Ameiurus Melas, armored catfish ♦ Blind cat, blue cat, blue catfish, blue channel cat, blue channel catfish, brown bullhead ♦ crucifix fish ♦ Electric cat, electric catfish, European catfish ♦ family Laricariidae, flathead catfish ♦ genus Malopterurus, goujon ♦ horned pout, hornpout ♦ Laricariidae ♦ Malopterurus, Malopterurus electricus, Mud cat, mudcat ♦ pout, Pylodictus olivaris ♦ Raash ♦ sheatfish, shovelnose catfish, Silurus glanis, spoonbill catfish ♦ Wolf fish ♦ Yellow cat. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "catfish": Fish. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Didja ever see a catfish riding a yella jackass (Seven Faces of Dr. Lao; writing credit: Charles G. Finney; Charles Beaumont) Hah! The state of Florida against a l'il ole catfish. Some case (Zaat; writing credit: Ron Kivett; Lee O. Larew) | |
Lyrics | I can catch catfish from dusk 'till dawn (A Country Boy Can Survive (Y2K Verison); performing artist: Chad Brock) Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite, (GREEN RIVER; performing artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival) Catfish fried up dirty south fed (Southern Hospitality; performing artist: Ludacris) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. A hardheaded catfish in an aquarium. Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR). |  | Plate 232. The Channel Catfish of the Potomac. Ictalurus albidus (Le S.), J. & G. Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection. |
 | Plate 233. The Bull-Head. Amiurus melas (Raf.), Jordan and Copeland. The Bull-Head or Catfish. Amiurus catus (L.), Gill. Credit: National Marine Fisheries Historical Image Collection. |  | Workers rig nets to harvest catfish from the Delta Pride Catfish farms in MS.. Credit: USDA. |
 | Workers harvest catfish at the Delta Pride Catfish Farm in MS. Credit: USDA. |  | Catfish processed and packed at the Heartland Catfish Processing plant in Itta Bena, MS. Is made ready for shipping. Credit: USDA. |
 | Brown bullhead catfish. Credit: USDA. |  | Viewed from the sky, an array of catfish ponds in Louisiana resembles an abstract painting. The color differences between ponds can be correlated to the number and type of algae present within the ponds. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |
 | Market-size USDA 103 catfish ready for harvest. This new variety grows faster than other catfish. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Peggy Greb.. |  | Negroes catching small catfish with their hands. Bait to be used in shoals of Little River near Eatonton, Georgia. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Fish heads, fish heads" by Tammy Sharp Commentary: "Catfish heads hanging on a fence near Corum, Oklahoma." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| "Catfish" is generally used as a noun (common) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Catfish" is used about 231 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (common) | 100% | 231 | 19,761 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "catfish": armored catfish ♦ blue catfish ♦ blue channel catfish ♦ channel catfish ♦ channel catfish virus disease ♦ electric catfish ♦ european catfish ♦ flathead catfish ♦ sea catfish ♦ shovelnose catfish ♦ spoonbill catfish. Additional references. | |
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "catfish": non-catfish. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
catfish | 4,548 | catfish pic | 47 |
catfish bait | 391 | fried catfish | 45 |
catfish recipe | 275 | catfish tip | 43 |
catfish fishing | 191 | catfish hunter | 41 |
catfish picture | 184 | bait catfish homemade | 40 |
flathead catfish | 167 | catfish farm | 40 |
channel catfish | 119 | catfish clean | 40 |
catfish bait recipe | 113 | blackened and catfish | 38 |
world record catfish | 113 | pictus catfish | 38 |
catfish noodling | 97 | fried catfish recipe | 37 |
catch catfish | 95 | aquarium catfish | 37 |
blue catfish | 93 | catfish fishing tip | 37 |
record catfish | 81 | catfish largest world | 34 |
cleaning catfish | 74 | catfish largest | 32 |
giant catfish | 71 | red tail catfish | 32 |
big catfish | 70 | catfish cooking | 31 |
catfish walking | 62 | catfish texas | 30 |
catfish farming | 59 | catching catfish | 29 |
catfish rig | 52 | the best catfish bait | 29 |
catfish grilled | 47 | redtail catfish | 27 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "catfish"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | mustak (cat, gudgeon). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | морска котка (fur seal, sea bear). (various references) | |
Chinese | 鲶鱼. (various references) | |
Czech | sumcovitá ryba. (various references) | |
Danish | stribet havkat (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, rockfish, wolffish), maller (Siluriformes), havkat (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, rockfish, wolffish). (various references) | |
Dutch | zeewolf (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, catfishes, rockfish, wolffish, wolffishes), meervalachtigen (Siluriformes). (various references) | |
Finnish | monni (Danubian wels, sheatfish, som catfish, wels, wels catfish), merikissa (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, rockfish, wolffish). (various references) | |
French | Siluriformes, poisson loup (Atlantic catfish), loup de mer à peau mince (Atlantic catfish), loup de mer (Atlantic catfish), loup atlantique (Atlantic catfish), loup anarhique à peau mince (Atlantic catfish), loup (Atlantic catfish), barbotte, \CAA (Atlantic catfish). (various references) | |
German | Katzenfisch. (various references) | |
Greek | λυκόψαρο (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, catfishes, rockfish, wolffish, wolffishes). (various references) | |
Hungarian | harcsa (great cat-fish, sheatfish, sheat-fish). (various references) | |
Italian | lupo di mare (old salt, sea dog, water rat). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 鯰 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | なまず. (various references) | |
Korean | 메기. (various references) | |
Manx | kaytlag, kayt marrey. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | atfishcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | piranha, peixe-lobo riscado (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, rockfish, wolffish), peixe gato, bagre comum, bagre. (various references) | |
Romanian | drac-de-mare. (various references) | |
Russian | сом (sheatfish, sheat-fish, silurus). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | som (sheat-fish). (various references) | |
Spanish | pez (fish, pitch, tar), perro del Norte (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, rockfish, wolffish), barbo (barbel). (various references) | |
Swedish | kotlettfisk, havskatt (Atlantic catfish, Atlantic wolffish, rockfish, wolffish). (various references) | |
Turkish | yayın balığı. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | зубатка смугаста. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Anarhichas lupus (Linnaeus), Siluriformes. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "catfish": catfishes. (additional references) | |
| |
"Catfish" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Catfoss, Chataibh. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "catfish" (pronounced ka"tfi'sh) |
| 5 | -a" t f i' sh | flatfish. |
| 4 | -t f i' sh | whitefish. |
| 3 | -f i' sh | Angelfish, crawfish, cuttlefish, dealfish, dogfish, goldfish, goosefish, hagfish, jellyfish, jewfish, lungfish, needlefish, pipefish, redfish, sailfish, selfish, shellfish, starfish, sunfish, swordfish. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-f-h-i-s-t" | |
-1 letter: faiths. | |
-2 letters: aitch, chats, chias, chits, facts, faith, fiats, fitch, hafis, hafts, saith, shaft, shift, stich, tachs. | |
-3 letters: acts, aits, asci, cash, cast, cats, chat, chia, chis, chit, cist, fact, fash, fast, fats, fiat, fisc, fish, fist, fits, haft, hast, hats, hist, hits, ichs, itch, sati, scat, sift, sith, tach, this, tics. | |
-4 letters: act. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-f-h-i-s-t" | |
+2 letters: catfights, catfishes, chaffiest. | |
+3 letters: catchflies, chairlifts, chieftains, factorship, lightfaces, whitefaces. | |
+4 letters: factorships, feldspathic, fianchettos, handicrafts, spaceflight, ultrafiches, witchcrafts. | |
+5 letters: fucoxanthins, gemeinschaft, spaceflights. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
