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in the Assabet Watershed
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Brown bullhead
Ameiurus nebulosus
Photo credit: Bill Byrne, MA
Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
Habitat requirements and life history:
The brown bullhead or "horned pout", is the only native catfish
in Massachusetts. It inhabits warm, highly vegetated (eutrophic)
rivers, impoundments, lakes and ponds. A typical omnivorous,
bottom-feeding catfish, the bullhead consumes crustaceans,
insects, worms, algae, snails and fishes. Catfish are scent-oriented
animals. They find food using the scent-detecting cells imbedded
in their skins, particularly in their barbels or "whiskers,"
and around their mouths. Bullheads feed most actively between
dusk and midnight and near dawn. They spawn in spring and
summer. A pair builds a round nest in sand, gravel or mud
under the shelter of a log, rock or vegetation. After the
eggs are laid and fertilized, the parents guard them until
the larvae, which resemble small tadpoles, emerge from the
eggs. The larvae are shepherded about in a tight school or
"ball" by the parents. Fry that stray are taken up in the
mouths or either parent and returned to the brood. When threatened,
fry may even hide in the parent's mouths for protection. (Sources:
Freshwater Fishes of the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland,
& Delaware, Massachusetts Wildlife, No. 2, 2000, Special Fishing
Issue and AMC Guide to Freshwater Fishing in New England)
Total length:
8 - 14 inches
Pollution tolerance (US EPA): Tolerant
Classification:
Macrohabitat generalist
Number of fish found during 1954 &
2001 fish surveys*:
| Location |
No. of Fish 1954 |
No. of Fish 2001 |
| Assabet River |
126 |
19 |
| Assabet Brook |
|
3 |
| Danforth Brook |
|
10 |
| Elizabeth Brook |
|
3 |
| Fort Meadow Brook |
|
5 |
| Great Brook |
1 |
|
| Nashoba Brook |
3 |
|
| North Brook |
2 |
1 |
| Stirrup Brook |
2 |
|
| Total |
134 |
41 |
*Sources:
Schlotterbeck, L.C. and W.A. Tompkins, 1954. "A
Fisheries Investigation of the Merrimack and Ipswich River Drainages."
Bureau of Wildlife Research and Management, Massachusetts Division
of Fisheries and Game.
DFW, 2001. Assabet Watershed Fish Survey. MA Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife, Westborough, MA.
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