Flat Bullhead

Diet and feeding

The FishTraits compilation records these diet categories for this species: algae or phytoplankton; aquatic or other vascular plants; invertebrates or larval fish; larger animal prey (a source category covering fish, crayfish, crabs, or frogs). These are broad categories, not a claim that every individual consumes every example in a category.

Reported feeding positions include bottom feeding. The compilation combines published observations; diets can vary with age, locality, and available food.

Habitat preferences

Reported habitat associations include medium to large rivers, streams and small rivers, creeks, still-water habitats.

The source records associations with sand, gravel, cobble, boulders, vegetation. An association indicates reported use, rather than an exclusive requirement.

Reproduction and parental care

The compilation reports a representative maturity age of 3 years. Its maturity field summarizes mean, median, or modal estimates, usually for females; male estimates can be used when female data are unavailable. It is not a fixed age at which every fish first breeds.

Recorded spawning months are Jun, Jul for the source’s reporting region (NC). This is a regional calendar, not a range-wide schedule.

The reproductive-guild classification includes guarding eggs or young at a spawning substrate or nest.

Size and recorded longevity

FishTraits reports a maximum total length of 29 centimetres. Some entries use an estimated asymptotic length; this value should not be treated as a certified record catch.

Recorded longevity in the compilation is 6 years. Wild observations were preferred, but captive records were accepted where wild records were unavailable, and unspecified records were assumed wild. The value is not a guaranteed wild lifespan or an aquarium life expectancy.

Identification and appearance

Page and Burr (1991); Jenkins and Burkhead (1994). Another commonly used name is Ictalurus platycephalus.

Native range

Atlantic Piedmont and Coastal Plain from Roanoke River drainage, Virginia, to Altamaha River drainage, Georgia (Page and Burr 1991).

Introduction history

This species was intentionally stocked in North Carolina. Although tentatively considered native to the James River, Virginia, Jenkins and Burkhead (1994) reported that the species may have escaped from a stocked farm pond. Possibly introduced as a sportfish in drainages of Georgia outside its native range.