Giant Catfish

[Godzillaaaa]

Around where I live there is a lake with a story of catfish bigger than a schoolbus. When the lake used to be a river, the catfish was only the size of a large rowboat and was known to attack small children swimming in the river. They built a big dam in this river, making a lake. Now he hangs by the dam sucking in food going through the little electricity gears and has grown to the size of a schoolbus. A dam inspection team supposedly was fixing a messed up gear and one of the divers was bitten in half by "a bohemeth catfish". The other members skedadled and there story is well known around these parts, though no mammoth catfish has been confirmed living in the lake.

This is just an urban legend around the lake I live around in Texas. While not bus sized, some child-eating catfish have also been reported in the Amazon river in South America. There are also stories of HUGE alligator gar in some of the rivers in Texas, which supposedly attack boats and stuff, but these stories were all told to me by my father, so I doubt they are on the internet, all exept the one about the catfish in the Amazon river. I hope you enjoyed!

[Jewels1958]

Around where I live there is a lake with a story of catfish bigger than a schoolbus. When the lake used to be a river, the catfish was only the size of a large rowboat and was known to attack small children swimming in the river. They built a big dam in this river, making a lake. Now he hangs by the dam sucking in food going through the little electricity gears and has grown to the size of a schoolbus. A dam inspection team supposedly was fixing a messed up gear and one of the divers was bitten in half by "a bohemeth catfish". The other members skedadled and there story is well known around these parts, though no mammoth catfish has been confirmed living in the lake.

This is just an urban legend around the lake I live around in Texas. While not bus sized, some child-eating catfish have also been reported in the Amazon river in South America. There are also stories of HUGE alligator gar in some of the rivers in Texas, which supposedly attack boats and stuff, but these stories were all told to me by my father, so I doubt they are on the internet, all exept the one about the catfish in the Amazon river. I hope you enjoyed!

Catfish have no teeth...so the best it could have done was gum the diver. Also we have the same story about the dam near here and I suspect every large body of water near children.

[Undeadskeptic]

Fish grow massive, so for once I have to say I am not skeptical at all.

There is a giant Eel in the lagoon by which my cousins live, which is legendary to all the fisherman and basically anyone who lives nearby. There are stories of it eating people, which is almost certainly just tall tales, having battles and JUST getting away from fishermen, obviously tall tales, and the more likely stories of it being seen swimming in the shallows, or occasionally coming up to eat stuff thrown in by people.

The Giant Eel is definately true, I know that for sure. I have seen it with my own eyes on a boat trip with my cousin, swimming right next to our boat. It was truly huge. Not a true giant I guess, just really long and scary looking.

[schwing]

Catfish have no teeth...so the best it could have done was gum the diver. Also we have the same story about the dam near here and I suspect every large body of water near children.

Catfish don't have teeth like an alligator gar per se. However if you've ever caught a catfish while fishing and ran your fingers on the inside of it's mouth you would see that they have very small fine teeth that act almost like grinders. With a catfish of any significant size it can and does do some damage when bitten by one. Even a small one can rip the skin from your fingers or hand. As far as a catfish biting a person in half..I would have to say that's stretching but hey, ya never know. It could happen if it were big enough.

[goalienan]

I remember when I was a kid, my dad and I would get up about 3 in the morning and go fishing....The lake was full of catfish, and we would catch about 6, then go home and scale and cook them up for breakfast,....I used to be fascinated by their faces, and Schwing is right about their mouths....My dad made me feel the inside once, and the mouth felt like tiny nails sticking up very unpleasant....so I imagine that they could do damage, fortunately these guys were dead.....

[Yankneck]

OK OK take it from a catfishing nut that catfish do have teeth and while not big a big sized blue catfish will shred up your hand pretty good trying to land them as I usually drag them ashore or on the boat by the lower jaw. OK and let me tell you there are no catfish of this size in any impoundment anywhere. That story of the dam inspection team is as old as the sun. Every corner of this country that I have lived in has a lake in which this story is told. Even round Valley Reservoir in New Jersey which was never stocked with anything bigger than bullheads is renowned for one of these stories. Go check out the story of the chicken truck accident here on Lake Lanier in Georgia and I can say for a fact that catfish over 25lbs do not live in this lake. This dam story cracks me up everytime I hear it. There are no schoolbus sized catfish sitting at the bottom of a lake next to a dam in 200 feet of unoxygenated water Besides the fact there is nothing to feed on in those depths that would sustane such a large fish

[Godzillaaaa]

I think the fish actually took the diver and shook him until he was pulled apart... Remember that he is the size of a schoolbus...

And while the catfish stories may not be true, there are alligator gar big enough to bite a dude's head off in one chomp...Just look on google image with the words "Giant Alligator Gar". Nothin too impressive for catfish though. The "maneater" turned out to be a whaleshark...

Edited January 7, 2008 by Godzillaaaa

[wolfknight]

Fishermen and there stories. I have seen carp that were 6 ft long. I have seen big catfish. I have also heard of the monster catfish laying in front of Kentucky Dam that swallows divers. Not true. Being from Kentucky any fish that size would be stuffed and mount somewhere or in a big ole skillet being fried.

Edited January 7, 2008 by wolfknight

[draconic chronicler]

Catfish don't have teeth like an alligator gar per se. However if you've ever caught a catfish while fishing and ran your fingers on the inside of it's mouth you would see that they have very small fine teeth that act almost like grinders. With a catfish of any significant size it can and does do some damage when bitten by one. Even a small one can rip the skin from your fingers or hand. As far as a catfish biting a person in half..I would have to say that's stretching but hey, ya never know. It could happen if it were big enough.

With few exceptions, most fish swallow their prey whole, just as a frog, and their teeth are designed to hold prey trying to excape. A catfish would only attack a person if it thought it could swallow the person whole. Some exceptions are sharks and phirana, but even these swallow smaller prey whole. It is inefficient for carnivore to tear prey appart, as much will be lost to scavengers.

[Vixintrex]

Well, supporting neither side really, I would first like to point out that the main reason a catfish could not grow that long is because a catfish could not live that long. Whenever a catfish reaches sexual maturity, it's energy in growth is transferred to energy in reproduction. (I think. I know this is true of gars, I'm thinking all fish. Check for yourself.) Second, the food; A catfish the siz of a schoolbus could eat striped bass, gar and - get this - catfish. Ordinarily, catfish are scavengers, but when you're that big, I don't think you care too much. Third, the story of the divers checking on the dam would be easily made up. Why? Because I am writing a book on catfish, and that was the first thing I thought of. I'm thinking about changing it now. Oh, and the teeth... Catfish have bristle-teeth, but at the size of the catfish in my book - 62 feet - the teeth are more like a carpet of short needles. And the jaws just crush their prey to death, not chew. So the prey is stuck, wounded, smashed, but still in one piece. This is because catfish would swallow you wholllle...

[panthera]

i hate gar's, they look like huge gigantic barracuda's

bleh

i doubt a catfish would grow that big though, considering everything that we know about catfish

[early-winter]

It all just sounds like a story to keep little kids from playing in the lake to me...

[Mr.United_Nations]

I think catfish do grow toa size of a table.

[Pal101]

Around where I live there is a lake with a story of catfish bigger than a schoolbus. When the lake used to be a river, the catfish was only the size of a large rowboat and was known to attack small children swimming in the river. They built a big dam in this river, making a lake. Now he hangs by the dam sucking in food going through the little electricity gears and has grown to the size of a schoolbus. A dam inspection team supposedly was fixing a messed up gear and one of the divers was bitten in half by "a bohemeth catfish". The other members skedadled and there story is well known around these parts, though no mammoth catfish has been confirmed living in the lake.

This is just an urban legend around the lake I live around in Texas. While not bus sized, some child-eating catfish have also been reported in the Amazon river in South America. There are also stories of HUGE alligator gar in some of the rivers in Texas, which supposedly attack boats and stuff, but these stories were all told to me by my father, so I doubt they are on the internet, all exept the one about the catfish in the Amazon river. I hope you enjoyed!

If it was the size of a school bus then the diver would have been swallowed whole instead of bitten in half.

[Ruffjeff]

ive always been afraid of deep waters...4 this exact reason....fish can grow to monstrous sizes...just depends on the ecosystem and things like this can always happen...because the dam was built it sounds like a likely story...b careful!!!!

[Mars Bonfire]

There are some catfish that get very large re: Mekong River.

Who is to say that elsewhere they might also grow huge,

though not to school bus dimensions, and it would certainly

have to be in a wide ranging lake or river, since an isolated

body of water would not contain enough food, nor enough

hiding places.

Big enough catfish "could" conceivably swallow a young

child, much in the manner smaller versions swallow frogs.

A friend from West Virginia said that after the Point

Pleasant bridge collapsed that divers working in the Ohio

River saw, and were fearful of, some very large catfish.

[muir]

I remember reading a story about a giant catfish in the mid to late 80's. Don't remember exact details but it was an AP story in the Rocky Mountain News. In a lake in the mid-west,sorry do not remember the state,a kid was water skiing with his family. He was 12 and had fallen. The dad turned the boat to go pick him up. The kid began screaming and bobbing up and down in the water. When the boat got there his folks pulled him in and his legs were cut up and bloodied. The took him to the hospital and the doctor there said it looked like bite marks from a catfish. The estimated size was something like 80' long.

I know there is much wrong with this story,sounds very urban legend. But I read this in a legitimate newspaper and it was an AP article. Maybe someone here also will remember this story.

[drakonwick]

I could understand a catfish reaching around 9 ft. long! But, the size of a school bus? Thats like 40 ft. I would have to say thats a bit exagerated.

The national geographic channel has a show called (Explorer: Monster Fish of the Congo), that provides evidence of catfish growing to incredible sizes.

[insanemind]

Like the fish pictured on this website.

http://www.extremescience.com/BiggestFreshwaterFish.htm

[jakeman]

All I do is catfishing. I do know that catfish will keep growing with age and the size as well depends on if there is a suffecient food source. Ive seen catfish come up and attack ducklings. Catfish are indescriminate eater. Ive caught them on everything from chicken liver to goldfish. The will eat and eat, anything that the can fit in their mouth. As i've said if their big enough they'll eat anything thats smaller and edible in their case. Though what species is this cat supposed to be. Is it a Blue Cat, The largest in the U.S. and north america. Possibly though unlikely a flathead. I doubt very seriously it would be a channel. So im guessing its a massive sized Blue cat. Though the mouth of a catfish is wide and good in length. Though that have to be a pretty big catfish. Ive heard similar stories in the ohio river the hudson, state lake, colorado river, so many. Some of the places ive heard dont even contain catfish. Though the areas around dam's seem to be the deepest. I have caught some very large catfish by dams. Though the size of a School bus. It would be a good one. As well ive heard of sturgeon growing to those lengths. Though dont count on catching a school bus sized catfish. Though if you wanting to catch a fish that size. Take up traditional Whaling. Thats about the only fish that could compare in length. So the catfish that sized must be a folk tale. Though the size of a row boat. That ive seen in pictures. Though what sized rowboats. Im thinking 8 ft. to 10 ft. The national record blue cat was around that size in length.

[+HerNibs]

Yeah, a sturgeon can get quite large.

Reason 435 I stay out of the water.

HN

[2nd Reign]

OK OK take it from a catfishing nut that catfish do have teeth and while not big a big sized blue catfish will shred up your hand pretty good trying to land them as I usually drag them ashore or on the boat by the lower jaw. OK and let me tell you there are no catfish of this size in any impoundment anywhere.

As catfish grow and become more mature its teeth slowly disapear and the fish becomes almost completley a vegetarian; and yes,I agree with you that there is a slim chance that this fish of this size exist but there is a species of this type that grow very large.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...nt-catfish.html

[2nd Reign]

Yeah, a sturgeon can get quite large.

Reason 435 I stay out of the water.

HN

Where was that monster caught?

[Dezmond]

Where was that monster caught?

I also would like to know. Then I know where to stay miles away from.

PS. The link of the image directed me to a site about British Columbia, probably were they are. *shudders*

Edited May 13, 2009 by Dezmond

[zrina11]

Stick to the swimming pools I say.