Poisonous catfish

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follen

follen

Polypterus
MFK Member
Jun 30, 2008
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england
I managed to find a little info before purchasing. If I'm correct these cats (not to sure on real name) get about 1.5ft long and like most cats a predatory.
My big question is are they really poisonous and where abouts are there barbs pectoral fins or dorsal.


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They have pectoral spines, the strength of the venom is debatable. Keep your tank sealed up tight, they can escape just like an eel can, better than eel actually. I had one in a sealed up tank alone that just disappeared, never found it. Good luck though they are great fish


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Heteropneustes fossilis
Illegal in CA so I've never kept one. They're an airsack catfish so they can survive a while outside the tank if they ever get out. Poison is supposed to be highly painful but not overly dangerous. pectoral fins for sure, dorsal I'm not sure about.
 
off topic a bit here, i read a paper the other day saying that new evidence suggests that 2/3rds of all catfish are poisonous to a degree!-) great looking catfish btw!-)
 
By poison, what is mostly meant is a type of neurotoxin in their slime on the spines that is designed to cause physical pain upon entering a wound, so the victim remembers to not mess with that fish again later. AFAIK, many cats have that defense mechanism perk of variable magnitude but IDK how large a fraction.

It is not injected as snakes and bees do, neither will it kill or cause losing a limb. Just very short but strong pain. Of course, there are exceptions to any rule. One may be allergic. That's why some people get an itchy bump from a bee sting, while others may die if no medication is administered in time.
 
justarn said:
off topic a bit here, i read a paper the other day saying that new evidence suggests that 2/3rds of all catfish are poisonous to a degree!-) great looking catfish btw!-)
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Further off, but I recently read that all snakes are, to a small degree, venomous. Even ones we think aren't, like constrictors.
 
really, that explains why it hurts so much when those evil little boas tag ya lol. oh and hey follen, just realised its you!-)
 
Been tagged by a bunch of snakes from three to four feet, carpet pythons, boa constrictors, ball pythons, gopher snakes and none of them hurt as much as a 4" irwini pinching/jabbing my finger with his pectoral fin and barely breaking the skin. Love that little guy.
 
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