Can catfish crawl out of water?

Question

I read this on the web but didnt understand clearly... Can they really crawl out of water when it drys up and find more water? It would be an odd sight! How far could they go? So can they breath air?
If this is true does this mean catfish must be very closely related to the fish that crawled onto land at the very start of evelution!
Thanks !!

Answer 1

Sure. I seen it on the discovery channel where a catfish was wiggling out of water for at least 2 minutes and wiggled to the other side of the water. It was surprizing

Answer 2

Some can and do, notoriously the walking catfish which can crawl over short distances on land using its pectoral fins as "legs". It can not breath outside of water though.

Catfish are not really an old species of fish. Gar, Sturgeon, and Bowfins are much much older. Also, it was most likely an amphibian that crawled out first, not a fish. Although there is always the mudskipper, which can actually "skip" over large distances on moist land, as long as they don't dry out, and there is also the lungfish, named so because it has a primitive lung. They are probably not transitional species that have stayed around hundreds of millions of years but more likely fish with re-evolved traits.

Answer 3

There are walking catfish. They can traverse land with their fins. You read that correctly. They don't exactly have "lungs" as we know them, but they have body parts that hold their gills partway open. They are able to absorb atmospheric oxygen from the air for that reason.

The fish actually stay alive long enough that they can be harvested by fishermen and still traded alive hours later in the marketplace. They are native to Asia, but they have begun showing up in Florida. The initial introduction in Florida is believed to be linked either to the importation of adult brood stock by an aquaculture facility in Palm Beach County or to a truck transporting brood fishes between Miami and the town of Parkland, Broward County, Florida. They can walk short distances in order to find food or water, but the fact that they take a long time to get from one place to another does limit the distance they can travel out of water.

I haven't been able to find any specific numbers for how long they can survive out of water or how far they can travel without water.

Answer 4

they more or less flop but they are able to breathe much more efficiently than other types of fish.

I have brought home catfish from the mountains (2 hour drive) to find the catfish is still flapping their gills trying for oxygen. Not sure how long they are able to breathe but 2 hours is quite a long time for them not to be in water (other fish will die within a few minutes of not receiving oxygen through water).

Answer 5

Fish can breathe air as long as their gills are wet. Other answers have told you about walking catfish, a real pest in the Southeast.

Answer 6

most Catfish can actually breathe air they can go fairly far, the catfish you are thinking about is the walking catfish (Clarias batrachus) they secrete a mucus through their skin to prevent drying and don't actually walk they just sort of wriggle also the eel catfish can hunt outside of the water.

Answer 7

YES..ours crawls out of the fish tank all the time..the cat brings him downstairs and we will find him crawling around...but if they do not find water in a reasonable amount of time they can dry up..we found one stcuk behind the dresser that didnt make it

Answer 8

a catfish is a kind of fish that breaths underwater. the colors of their body i think is orange black and white.

Answer 9

Walking Catfish do.
I not think they actually walk though.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Clarius_batrachus.html

Answer 10

there is such a thing as a walking catfish

it can move over land for a short distance