Do you love big bluegill?

Bullhead on Pink....5/20/2012

Another example of the wide range of fish that pound the pink curly tail....Caught about half dozen of these guys last weekend...

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Comment by Tony Livingston on May 23, 2012 at 7:32pm: The way I understand it, blue cats and channels can cross, they just choose not to. There have been experiments where channels of one sex were introduced with blues of the opposite sex, and reproduction did occur. So it can happen, but it doesn't tend to happen in the wild under normal conditions. Now bullheads and channels? I agree with David, that may be stretching it.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on May 23, 2012 at 7:06pm: In the book, "Catfishing," it was mentioned that 'siluriformes' don't cross breed. There are several mechanisms at work which prevent it. Of course in Nature, anything is possible, but the general context was that it is just not found to happen in the wild.

Bullhead x Channel cat crosses probably wouldn't occur.

Comment by Tony Livingston on May 23, 2012 at 6:57pm: Come to think of it, I believe I saw a reference to Blue x Channel crosses over at Pondboss not to long ago.....

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on May 23, 2012 at 6:56pm: I'm not sure but these fish came from a location that I take many Channel Cats every Summer.....I didn't even notice when I was catching/photographing them......I put them all back.....Interesting...thanks for the observation Tony.....

Comment by Tony Livingston on May 23, 2012 at 6:51pm: Yep, that second one's a bullhead. Blunt, rounded tail, rounded anal fin...... that's interesting how the fin and tail on the first photo look so different. Maybe I'm seeing things that aren't really there! I am pretty tired! You've made me wonder though, do catfish occasionally hybridize with other catfish??

Comment by Jeffrey D. Abney on May 23, 2012 at 6:41pm: I see what you're referencing Tony, this fish came on the very next cast. Although you can't see the entire tail, it appears to be more like the usual full tail of a Bullhead......I normally see a more pronounced fork in our channel cats almost like two sections are merged....But it does make you scratch your head....Possibly a cross or it might be a different type of catfish....

Comment by Tony Livingston on May 23, 2012 at 6:31pm: Jeffrey, you were there and I wasn't, but there looks to be a lot of fork in that tail for a Bullhead. Maybe the photo just appears that way.