White Catfish Growth and Life History in the Hudson River Estuary, New York

Distribution, Habitat Use, Growth, and Condition of a Native and an Introduced Catfish Species in the Hudson River Estuary

“…White catfish reached stock length (20 cm) by age 3 and quality length (33 cm) by age 6. The maximum age observed for white catfish during this study was l4 years, while Hughes and Carlson (1986) aged white catfish to eight years. In the Hudson River, channel catfish reached stock length (28 cm) by age 3 and quality length (41 cm) by age 5.…”

“…The abundance or"wnrte catirsh was significantly greater in the shoals habitat, compared to nearshore and tributary mouth habitats over all reaches' and compared to nearstrore, tributarv toutrt, und tailrace habitats in reach Rl (P:0'0021 )' This pattern of habitat use and ulong-t'iuary distribution is consistent with previous findings in the Hudson River. Hughes and Carlson (1986) found that white catfish were mostlf captured in offshore shoal and rock pile habitats, with lesser catches in vegetated backwater areas. They also found that most spawning of white catfish occurred in upstream reaches of the Hudson River estuary during June and July' which may explain why mean CPUE was highest in the Troy reach.…”

“…o'G fish laiger than 200 mm' relative weight data were norrnally distributed and did not .Juu.y with length; hence, differences in mean l/r among reaches wlre tested using nNOVR, and multiple comparisons were performed uringi irtter' s Least S i gnifi cant D i fference Test' Catfishspinesw-eresectionedatthedistalendofthebasalgroove(Sneedl95l, Marzolf 1955) at a thickness of upp.o*i'nutely 0'60 mm using a low-speed saw' Sections were affixed to microscope slides and annular measurements were obtained using an image analysis system. Back-calculated length-at-age was determined using the direct proportion method assuming u r.ro-ini"...pi1O.Vries and Frie 1996) and was consistent with back_carcuration methods previously used to describe white catfish age and growth in the Hudson River (Hughes and Carlson 1986)'…”

“…White catfish is recreationally and economically important across its range and is native to Atlantic coastal drainages from New York to Florida, including the Hudson River (Schmidt 1986). White catfish population structure and life history were assessed in the Hudson River estuary in the early 1980's by Hughes and Carlson (1986), roughly coincident with the first appearance of the channel catfish. They found that white catfish spawned in shoal and rock pile habitats during the months of June and July, and the upper Hudson River estuary (above km 201) was the primary spawning area.…”

Advancing aquaculture: Production of xenogenic catfish by transplanting blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) and channel catfish (I. punctatus) stem cells into white catfish (Ameiurus catus) triploid fry

“…According to Dunham et al [19] and Fobes [20], white catfish mature in 1 to 2 years compared to 2 to 4 years for channel catfish. White catfish begin to reach sexual maturity as early as 15.2 cm in fork length in northern California populations [21] and up to 23.0 cm total length in New Jersey populations [22]. Spawning of white catfish could be observed in early May when the temperature of the water ranges from 19 to 21˚C [21].…”