by Dr. Dean Hendrickson (Curator of Ichthyology)

 ChihuahuaCat

The very rare and still scientifically undescribed Chihuahua Catfish, "Ictalurus sp." is known only from streams of the Río Grande basin. It looks superficially a lot like the common Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), and hybridizes with that species. Non-hybrids, however, are identified by a shorter head, more rounded tail fin, fin ray counts and other details, not to mention DNA. It has not been collected in Texas for a couple of decades, but persists in New Mexico and probably still Chihuahua, Mexico.

To learn more, please visit the Hendrickson Lab page.