Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The na­tive range of Ameiu­rus melas ex­tends west from the Ap­palachian moun­tain range to Ari­zona, north to south­ern Canada, and as far north and east as New York. It can be found as far south as north­ern Mex­ico, and the dis­tri­b­u­tion ex­cludes all but the pan­han­dle of Florida. In­tro­duced pop­u­la­tions occur in parts of Cal­i­for­nia and Nevada. It also has been in­tro­duced to parts of Eng­land. (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
  • native
• palearctic
  • introduced

Habi­tat

Black bull­heads oc­cupy most fresh­wa­ter habi­tats, from small farm ponds to large lakes. They can in­habit many wa­ters that are oth­er­wise un­suit­able for other fishes. They can tol­er­ate poorly oxy­genated, pol­luted, tur­bid, and high tem­per­a­ture wa­ters. Be­cause they are rel­a­tively small, black bull­heads also oc­cupy many small creeks and rivers. They pre­fer soft bot­toms (in creeks and rivers) and avoid free flow­ing wa­ters where water moves rapidly. They feed in wa­ters from one to three me­ters deep. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• benthic
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams

• Range depth

  1 to 5 m

  3.28 to 16.40 ft

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Black bull­heads are dis­tin­guished by their ro­bust, bulky head. They have a very broad head with pig­mented bar­bels. The color ranges from dark brown to black dor­sally, yel­low to white ven­trally. Color varies greatly de­pend­ing on lo­ca­tion and water fea­tures. They have long bar­bels, which are com­pletely pig­mented, and nos­tril whiskers re­sem­bling "horns". Their fins have black pig­men­ta­tion, the cau­dal fin is rounded and oc­ca­sion­ally has a pale ver­ti­cal stripe at its base. Anal fin rays range from 19 to 25, cau­dal fin rays from 15 to 18. Gill rak­ers range from 16 to 18. Sim­i­lar species in­clude yel­low bull­heads (Ameiu­rus na­talis),and brown bull­heads (Ameiu­rus platy­cephalus). Black bull­heads are the only bull­head species (Ameiu­rus) with com­pletely pig­mented bar­bels. Yel­low bull­heads have no pig­men­ta­tion and brown bull­heads have light pig­ments on the ends of the bar­bels. Black bull­heads nat­u­rally hy­bridize with brown bull­heads. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry
• venomous

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  0.70 to 3.63 kg

  1.54 to 8.00 lb

• Average mass

  1.43 kg

  3.15 lb

• Range length

  100 to 350 mm

  3.94 to 13.78 in

• Average length

  210 mm

  8.27 in

De­vel­op­ment

After spawn­ing, eggs hatch in 4 to 10 days. Free swim­ming fry re­main close to the adult male for around two weeks. Dur­ing this time the young reach around 25 mm in total length. Av­er­age growth is to 170 mm in the first year, 240 mm in the sec­ond year, 290 mm in the third year, 320 mm in the fourth year, peak­ing at around 350 mm total length by the fifth year. Sex­ual ma­tu­rity is reached around 160 mm. Pop­u­la­tion den­sity greatly af­fects black bull­heads and sizes may vary greatly due to this. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

Re­pro­duc­tion

After a fe­male has con­structed a nest, she in­tices a male by nudg­ing the male's ab­domen with her snout. After breed­ing, the pair lay side by side, with the male curl­ing his cau­dal fin around the fe­males mouth. After sev­eral pair­ings, spawn­ing can be no­ticed by a quiv­er­ing in the fe­male. The fe­male guards the nest for the first day, then the male takes over for the re­main­der of egg and fry pro­tec­tion. (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Spawn­ing oc­curs be­tween May and July. The fe­male fans out a saucer shaped nest in a soft sub­strate, then re­moves larger el­e­ments with her snout. The male is nearby dur­ing the con­struc­tion of the nest. Nests are typ­i­cally in 2 to 4 feet of water and range in di­am­e­ter and depth ac­cord­ing to the sub­strate. On few oc­ca­sions nest lay be­neath a log or other forms of struc­ture. Fe­males pro­duce be­tween 2,000 and 3,800 eggs. Spawn­ing oc­curs five times over a one hour pe­riod. The male watches over the nest after the first day for up to ten days. When the eggs then hatch, they stay close to the male for up to two weeks. (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • external
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Black bullheads breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Black bullheads breed from May to July.

• Range number of offspring

  2,000 to 3,800

• Average number of offspring

  3150

  AnAge

• Range time to hatching

  5 to 10 days

• Range time to independence

  12 to 17 days

• Average time to independence

  14 days

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  1 to 3 years

• Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  1 to 3 years

Prior to breed­ing, fe­males con­struct a nest using pelvic and anal fins. After breed­ing the fe­male guards the nest for the first day. After the first day males take over and guard the nest for up to 10 days until the eggs hatch. For the next two weeks the young re­main close to the male. (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Parental Investment
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • provisioning
    • male
  • protecting
    • male

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Black bull­heads have an av­er­age lifes­pan of five years in the wild and a slightly higher lifes­pan in cap­tiv­ity. The old­est found are around ten years. They are eas­ily kept in aquar­i­ums and adapt well. If the proper space and liv­ing con­di­tions are met, many find the these fish thrive well in cap­tiv­ity. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  3 to 10 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  5 years

• Range lifespan
  Status: captivity

  4 to 10 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  5 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: wild

  4 to 10 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  5 years

• Typical lifespan
  Status: captivity

  5 to 10 years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  5 years

Be­hav­ior

Adults are very in­ac­tive dur­ing day­light hours, feed­ing al­most ex­clu­sively after dark, and are sel­dom seen or caught in rivers and streams until after dusk. Blacks bull­heads tend to look for food after dark along with up to four oth­ers. No so­cial sys­tems have been ob­served. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004)

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• nocturnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• aestivation

Home Range

Lit­tle is known about the size of the home range in black bull­heads. They tend to uti­lize pools in rivers and oc­cupy areas where food is avail­able. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004)

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Black bull­heads have taste buds on in the mouth that help dif­fer­en­ti­ate prey items. Bar­bels are used to pick up chem­i­cal and hy­dro­dy­namic cues left by prey. As in many cat­fishes the swim blad­der is used to pick up on vi­bra­tions, as well as com­mu­ni­cate. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Young black bull­heads usu­ally thrive on os­tra­cods, am­phipods, cope­pods, and in­sects and their larva. Young feed pri­marly in school­ing pat­terns dur­ing mid­day. Adults tend to be noc­tur­nal, and feed on a wide va­ri­ety of in­ver­te­brates. Midge lar­vae and other young in­sects are the pri­mary diet for adult bull­heads. Black bull­heads have been known to eat small fish and fish eggs as well. (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore
  • eats non-insect arthropods

• Animal Foods
• fish
• eggs
• carrion
• insects
• terrestrial worms
• aquatic crustaceans

• Plant Foods
• macroalgae

• Other Foods
• detritus

Pre­da­tion

Young black bull­heads may fall prey to large­mouth bass (Mi­cropterus salmoides) and other basses, as well as wall­eye (Sander vit­reus). They are pro­tected from some pre­da­tion by their ven­omous pec­toral spines, that can in­flict a painful sting. (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Known Predators

  • largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
  • other basses
  • walleye (Sander vitreus)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Black bull­heads raise tur­bid­ity lev­els in farm ponds. Be­cause of this they can neg­a­tively af­fect other species which also in­habit the pond. Black bull­heads can sur­vive in muddy or tur­bid wa­ters where many species do not thrive. Black bull­heads are im­por­tant in­ter­me­di­ate preda­tors in the ecosys­tems in which they live.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Though black bull­heads are rel­a­tively small, they have be­come a pop­u­lar fish among an­glers. They are known for their good taste, and amount of fight when body size pro­por­tions are con­sid­ered. Many black bull­heads are kept in cap­tiv­ity be­cause they adapt well and have a long lifes­pan. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Positive Impacts
• pet trade
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Black bull­heads are not con­sid­ered a prob­lem to most hu­mans. In some cases where over­pop­u­la­tion is a prob­lem, they may never reach ac­cept­able an­gling size. Where stocked in Eu­rope, most pop­u­la­tions are too dense to reach full size ca­pac­ity, which makes them gen­er­ally an un­pop­u­lar species. Black bull­heads can cause a painful sting if pec­toral spines punc­ture human flesh. Black bull­heads con­tain small amounts of venom at the ends of spine which can cause pain for up to a week. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • venomous

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Black bull­heads are com­mon and some­time very abun­dant throught their range. They have be­come a pop­u­lar game­fish in many areas, so due to stock­ing in many ponds and lakes black bull­heads are a sta­ble and grow­ing species. ("A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium", 2004)

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Chris Rose (au­thor), East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­sity, Sherry Har­rel (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

2004. "A Bound­ary Wa­ters Com­pendium" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 31, 2005 at http://​www.​rook.​org/​earl/​bwca/​nature/​fish/​ictalurusmel.​html.

Et­nier, D., W. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Ten­nessee. The Uni­ver­sity of Ten­nessee Press/ Knoxville.