Catfish belong to an order of freshwater and saltwater fishes that are notable for whisker-like structures called barbels on their face. Most catfish are bottom feeders, and use their sensitive barbels to help them find food in murkier waters near the bottom.
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Catfish are widespread and can be found on every continent except for Antarctica. While they are very diverse, with numerous families in South America, Africa and Asia, there is only one family native to North America: Ictaluridae, whose members include the bullheads, channel catfish, madtoms, and blue catfish.
Catfish are popular sport fish, food fish, and aquarium fish. They range in size from tiny parasitic catfish just a few millimeters long, to the Mekong giant catfish, the wels catfish, and the piraiba, which can all grow up to 10 feet or longer.