Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Love Those Catfish...!

Growing up in Texas, the catfish has been a favorite menu item of mine for a very long time! Some fried catfish, fried 'taters and onions, and some cornbread makes for a good meal...anytime!

Most country folks have a fondness for the catfish. Catfish are a little on the ugly side, but what they lack in looks they make up in taste! Really! To top it off, they have a talent I never knew about!

Catfish Have About 100,000 Taste Buds



Humans have somewhere between 2,000 and 8,000 taste buds, all concentrated on the little lump of flesh wiggling around your mouth. Catfish, on the other hand, have closer to 100,000 individual taste buds—all over their bodies. In a sense, a catfish is just a big swimming tongue. Each taste bud is about 50 nanometers (50 billionths of a meter, or 164 billionths of a foot) wide, and the bigger the fish is, the more taste buds it has. Larger fish can have more than 175,000 taste buds dotted across their body.

Why would an animal—especially one that lives in the mud at the bottom of murky ponds—need such a strong sense of taste? They use it to hunt. Visibility becomes more limited the deeper you go, so for a bottom dweller like the catfish, sight isn’t always helpful. With their taste buds, catfish can “taste” prey meters away, like a wolf catching a scent. And with so many buds all over their body, they can essentially triangulate the prey’s location based on how strongly the taste hits certain body parts. Most of the taste buds are clustered around the fore region of the catfish so it can home in on the prey once it’s angled in the right direction.

Catfish still use their eyes, but researchers have found that the taste buds are more important for hunting than sight. Take away a catfish’s eyes and it will still find food. Take away its taste buds, however, and it’s essentially blind.

I guess that with that many taste buds, the fish can smell a decent bait from a long way off. That, my friends, is a good thing...for the fisherman!

Another good day for coffee out on the patio. Going back up to the high 80's today!

12 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

I think I knew that at one time, but I'd definitely forgotten it!

HermitJim said...

Hey Gorges...
More than happy to refresh the old memory!

Thanks for coming over today!

Chickenmom said...

The only fish that I really like is the 'ol catfish baked in the ground. Haven't had that in years!

linda m said...

Learned something new today. I love deep fried catfish.

JO said...

Didn't know that thank you once again.

My late mother in law could make some mean catfish and corn bread yep she was from the south. It has been many years since and you never found a bone either.

I was warmer last night at 65 and it is supposed to be in the 70s but it doesn't feel that cool at all. Coffee on the patio it is. I'll bring a sweet roll apple pie hot from the over.

Sixbears said...

Yep, good eating. The NH versions are small, but that just means they fry up quicker. We used to fill pails with those little monsters.

Dizzy-Dick said...

The channel cats are the best eating, in my opinion.

butterbean said...

Hey HJ,
You got that right, except maybe for crappie, WHEN YOU CAN CATCH'EM !!!
Fresh caught, skinned and fried, UUU UUUUMMMM GOOOOD !!!! The best are channels about 1 1/2#s, fried whole!!

MEOW, how do you bake'em in the ground; sounds injun to me??? About like pig-tails, probably...
Hope everyone has a HAPPY DAY!!!!

butterbean said...

ADDENDUM 2:
SORRY, MEOW, THAT WAS CHICKENMOM!!!

HermitJim said...

Hey Phyllis...
Sounds like an interesting way to fix 'em. I'll have to give it a try!

Thanks for coming over today!



Hey Linda...
I'm kinda fond of it as well!

Thanks for the visit!



Hey Jo...
That pie sounds like just the thing!

Catfish makes for a good meal, especially with cornbread!

Thanks, sweetie, for dropping by today!



Hey Sixbears...
Sounds good to me! Big or small, doesn't matter!

Thanks for coming over today!



Hey Dizzy...
Sounds like you might have had a few, buddy!

Thanks for coming over today!



Hey Butterbean...
Man, I haven't had any crappie in a month of Sundays!

Thanks for coming by today!

Unknown said...

A swimming tail. hmmmm.... I know a lot of people who crave catfish, but for me, they are just too ugly! Give some good old bluegill any day! :-)

Linda said...

I love fried catfish! But, I make hushpuppies instead of cornbread with fried fish.