Catfishes in the Upper Mississippi River system: Distribution and trends as noted by the long term resource monitoring program

Catfishes are collected by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program which has monitored the fish community of the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) since 1989.  Of the nine species and 130,920 catfishes collected, channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus (81.1%) and flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris (5.6%) are the most common.  Bullheads (black Ictalurus melas – 4.9%, yellow Ictalurus natalis – 1.4%, and brown Ictalurus nebulosus – 1.0%) and madtoms (Stonecat Noturus flavus – 0.1%, freckled madtom Noturus nocturnus – 0.1%, and tadpole madtom Noturus gyrinus – 1.7%) make up the majority of remaining catfishes collected.  Blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus (3.1%) are only collected consistently in two southern areas.  Analyses revealed stable populations temporally with responses to hydrological events for common species noted.  Low catches of rare species prohibited temporal analyses; however, distinct geographical patterns exist (e.g. freckled madtoms are common in the south and tadpole madtoms most common in the north).  This synthesis brings together all the catfishes collected to aid managers in understanding the catfish’s role in a large river system, especially the madtoms as the LTRMP data extends to the northern parts of this Genus’ range.