More than half of all species of catfish live in North America and South America. Catfish are primarily fresh water fish and tend to favor running water habitats that are fairly shallow. Many catfish will occupy caves or what are commonly referred to as “catfish holes” into which they burrow to sleep and to wait for prey.
The most abundant species of catfish are the flathead catfish, the yellow bullhead catfish, the black bullhead catfish, the brown bullhead catfish, the blue catfish and the channel catfish. While the majority of their habitats are, for the most part, similar some of these species keep their own idiosyncrasies.
Channel, flathead, and blue catfish generally prefer larger lakes and rivers whereas bullhead catfish can more often be found in smaller lakes, ponds, and streams or remote, quieter portions of larger lakes. White catfish tend are typically found in both habitats.
Channel catfish have been widely introduced too much of the United States and even other parts of the world but were previously only native to the Gulf States of the US and the Mississippi Valley as well as Mexico and the prairie provinces of Canada. Blue catfish and channel catfish typically enjoy swift streams but also enjoy large, calm reservoirs, slower-moving streams, ponds, and lakes. They also tend to sty where the bottom is some kind of rubble such as gravel or sand. Even though they are freshwater fish, Channel catfish can easily survive in brackish water. They keep to deep holes surrounded by rocks and logs during the day and stick to moving around and feeding at night.
Flathead catfish prey only on live fish, worms, insects, and crayfish so they prefer to remain in rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs, and streams with slow currents and cloudy water. They can be found from the Gulf States all the way up to the Great Lakes in the United States.
Yellow and brown bullhead catfish most often reside in weedy glacial lakes, low gradient streams, shallow bays, and oxbows. They prefer clear water with lots of submerged aquatic vegetation. They are typically bottom night feeders, finding their food by feeling for it with their barbels. These catfish can be found in many places in the United States from Florida all the way up the east coast, in the Midwest, Missouri and Texas. They are typically less sensitive to pollution than most other species of fish. In the Southern States, brown bullhead catfish are heavily farmed due to their firm, red or pink colored flesh and delicious taste.