Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Yel­low bull­head (Ameiu­rus na­talis) range through­out the east­ern United States, ex­tend­ing north to south­east­ern Canada and west to the Great Plains and Rio Grande drainage; they are in­tro­duced else­where (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993). (Et­nier and Starnes, 1993)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

Habi­tat

Yel­low bull­head pre­fer back­wa­ters with slow cur­rent in rivers and streams. They can be found in the shal­low parts of streams, lakes, ponds, or large bays. Habi­tat varies from a slow cur­rent with poorly oxy­genated, highly silted, and highly pol­luted water to a more swift cur­rent with clean and clear water that has aquatic veg­e­ta­tion. Yel­low bull­head are bot­tom dwellers, liv­ing in areas with muck, rock, sand, or clay sub­strates. (Traut­man, 1981)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• freshwater

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

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Yel­low bull­head are ray-finned fish that lack scales. The dor­sal part of the body can be yel­low to olive, brown, mot­tled gray, or black. The belly is usu­ally a yel­low color. The cau­dal fin is rounded and un­forked. Anal fin rays num­ber 24 to 28; 25 to 26 is most com­mon. Yel­low bull­head may live to be 7 years old, and grow up to 45.7 to 48.3 cen­time­ters long and weigh up to 3.2 kilo­grams.

Yel­low bull­head are sim­i­lar to black (Ameiu­rus melas) and brown (Ameiu­rus neb­u­lo­sus) bull­head. They dif­fer from these two species in that they have white or yel­low chin bar­bels. Both black and brown bull­head have some dark pig­men­ta­tion on the chin bar­bels. Fins and col­orations are sim­i­lar among the three species. ("Life His­tory Notes: Bull­head", 2005; "Yel­low Bull­head (Ameiu­rus na­talis)", 2005; Eddy and Surber, 1943; Eddy and Un­der­hill, 1974; Kloss­ner, 2005; Traut­man, 1981)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Average mass

  454 g

  16.00 oz

• Average mass

  1278 g

  45.04 oz

  AnAge

• Range length

  20.3 to 25.4 cm

  7.99 to 10.00 in

De­vel­op­ment

Yel­low bull­head eggs hatch five to ten days after fer­til­iza­tion. The male yel­low bull­head guards the nest dur­ing this pe­riod. Upon hatch­ing, the young fry are herded into tight schools by the male and pro­tected until they are ap­prox­i­mately two inches long. Sex­ual ma­tu­rity is reached be­tween the ages of 2 and 3 years, when the fish are at least 140 mm in length. ("Life His­tory Notes: Bull­head", 2005; "Yel­low Bull­head (Ameiu­rus na­talis)", 2005)

Re­pro­duc­tion

Yel­low bull­head males dig nests, which may range from a shal­low de­pres­sion in muddy sed­i­ment to a deep bur­row in the stream bank. Pro­tected nest sites near rocks and stumps with dense veg­e­ta­tion are pre­ferred. Nest sites at­tract fe­males for mat­ing. ("Ameiu­rus na­talis (LeSueur)", 2005; Arm­strong, 1962; Eddy and Surber, 1943; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993; Hubbs and La­gler, 1958; Kloss­ner, 2005)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Yel­low bull­head spawn from April until June, be­gin­ning when water tem­per­a­tures reach 23 to 28 de­grees Cel­sius. The fe­male pro­duces 300 to 700 sticky yel­low­ish eggs per spawn­ing act, and the nest can con­tain 1700 to 4300 eggs in total. ("Ameiu­rus na­talis (LeSueur)", 2005; Arm­strong, 1962; Eddy and Surber, 1943; Et­nier and Starnes, 1993; Hubbs and La­gler, 1958; Kloss­ner, 2005)

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

• Breeding interval

  Yellow bullheads breed once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Yellow bullheads breed and spawn from April to July.

• Range number of offspring

  1700 to 4300

• Average number of offspring

  500

  AnAge

• Average time to hatching

  5-7 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2-3 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
  Sex: female

  730 days

  AnAge

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  2-3 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
  Sex: male

  730 days

  AnAge

Both the male and fe­male help in the con­struc­tion of the nest and while the young are in the nest one of the par­ents will guard them. After the fry hatch the male herds the young into a dense ball and will pro­tect them until they grow to two inches long. ("Ameiu­rus na­talis (LeSueur)", 2005)

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

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Yel­low bull­heads have a 7 year life span in the wild. ("Ameiu­rus na­talis (LeSueur)", 2005)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  7 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  4.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Not much is known about the be­hav­ior of yel­low bull­heads. They are highly so­cial and feed pri­mar­ily at night. (Kloss­ner, 2005)

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• solitary

Home Range

At this time their is no in­for­ma­tion on home range in yel­low bull­heads.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Atema et al. (1969) and Todd (1971) have in­di­cated that yel­low bull­heads are a very so­cial fish and can rec­og­nize other in­di­vid­u­als and their so­cial sta­tus by their smell. The ol­fac­tory ap­pa­ra­tus (i.e., nose) is re­spon­si­ble for this abil­ity, while the bar­bels and other der­mal taste buds are used for lo­cat­ing food (Et­nier and Et­nier, 2005).

Taste buds are found in the mouth and all over the body. Yel­low bull­heads have 5 taste buds every 5 mm² on their body sur­face. The bar­bels serve as both an ex­ter­nal tongue and hands. Bull­heads can feel with their body and their bar­bels. They also have 20,000 taste buds on the eight whiskers. The av­er­age adult has a total of over 200,000 taste buds on its body. (Atema, 1971; Et­nier and Et­nier, 2005)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Like all other cat­fish species, yel­low bull­heads are op­por­tunis­tic feed­ers. Yel­low bull­heads feed at night. They have been known to eat min­nows, cray­fish, in­sects and in­sect lar­vae, aquatic in­ver­te­brates, and worms. Com­pared to the other two bull­heads, the yel­low bull­heads con­sume more aquatic veg­e­ta­tion. The young will feed on aquatic in­ver­te­brates. (Eddy and Surber, 1943; Eddy and Un­der­hill, 1974; Hubbs and La­gler, 1958; Traut­man, 1981)

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

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

• Plant Foods
• macroalgae

• Other Foods
• detritus

Pre­da­tion

Yel­low bull­heads are preyed upon by larger fish such as large­mouth bass (Mi­cropterus salmoides), black crap­pie (Po­moxis ni­gro­mac­u­la­tus), bluegill (Lep­omis macrochirus) and other cat­fish. Large wad­ing birds and some tur­tles will also take the adults. The young will be taken by smaller preda­tors, aquatic in­ver­te­brates, leeches, and cray­fish. They can in­flict ven­omous stings with their pec­toral spines, help­ing them to avoid pre­da­tion. ("Yel­low Bull­head", 2005)

• Known Predators

  • largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)
  • black crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus)
  • bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
  • large wading birds (Aves)
  • turtles (Testudines)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Yel­low bull­heads have been found to be a host species for creep­ers (Strophi­tus un­du­la­tus) and they are par­a­sitized by leeches (Hirudinea). (Gray, et al., 2001)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Yel­low bull­heads are not con­sid­ered to be a game fish, but they are widely sought after for food. Yel­low bull­heads also can be in­tro­duced into streams with high pol­lu­tion be­cause of their high tol­er­ance to pol­lu­tion. ("Life His­tory Notes: Bull­head", 2005; Kloss­ner, 2005)

• Positive Impacts
• food

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Bull­heads are very well known for the abil­ity to in­flict a sting with their pec­toral spines. The pain can last for a week or more. The sting is caused by small glands near their fins that pro­duce a poi­son which causes the swelling. The pain can be dulled by dab­bing am­mo­nia on the wound. (Kloss­ner, 2005)

• Negative Impacts
• injures humans
  • bites or stings

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Yel­low bull­heads are not known to have any spe­cific con­ser­va­tion sta­tus.

• IUCN Red List

  Not Evaluated

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Other Com­ments

(Ameiu­rus na­talis) is trans­lated in Latin mean­ing "prim­i­tive or cur­tailed" for Ameiu­rus, in ref­er­ence to the notch in the dis­tal end of the cau­dal fin, and na­talis mean­ing "hav­ing large but­tocks".

Other com­mon names of yel­low bull­heads are pol­li­wog, chuck­le­head cat, but­ter cat, yel­low cat, creek cat, white-whiskered bull­head, and greaser. ("Yel­low Bull­head (Ameiu­rus na­talis)", 2005; "Yel­low Bull­head", 2005)

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Gabe Jenk­ins (au­thor), East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­sity, Sherry Har­rel (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­sity.

Ref­er­ences

2005. "Ameiu­rus na­talis (LeSueur)" (On-line). Kansas Fishes. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 2005 at http://​www.​kansasfishes.​com/​Pages/​yellowbullhead.​htm.

2005. "Life His­tory Notes: Bull­head" (On-line). Ohio Di­vi­sion of Wildlife. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 2005 at http://​www.​dnr.​state.​oh.​us/​wildlife/​Fishing/​aquanotes-fishid/​bullhead.​htm.

2005. "Yel­low Bull­head (Ameiu­rus na­talis)" (On-line). Texas Parks and Wildlife De­part­ment. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 10, 2005 at http://​www.​tpwd.​state.​tx.​us/​huntwild/​wild/​species/​ybh/​.

"Yel­low Bull­head" (On-line). Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 31, 2005 at http://​www.​landbigfish.​com/​fish/​fish.​cfm?​ID=21.

2005. "Yel­low Bull­head" (On-line). Ohio Di­vi­sion of Nat­ural Areas &Pre­serves. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 31, 2005 at http://​www.​fcps.​k12.​va.​us/​StratforkLandingES/​Ecology.​mpages.​yellow_​bullhead.​htm.

Arm­strong, P. 1962. Stages in the De­vel­op­ment of Ic­talu­rus neb­u­lo­sus. Syra­cuse, New York: Syra­cuse Uni­veristy Press.

Atema, J. 1971. Struc­tures and Func­tions of the Sense of Taste in the Cat­fish (Ic­talu­rus na­talis). Brain, Be­hav­ior and Evo­lu­tion, 4: 273-294.

Atema, J., J. Todd, J. Bar­dach. 1969. Ol­fac­tion and taste: Pro­ceed­ings of the third in­ter­na­tional sym­po­sium. New York, New York: Rock­e­feller Univ. Press.

Eddy, S., T. Surber. 1943. North­ern Fishes. Min­neapo­lis, Min­nesota: Uni­ver­sity of Min­nesota Press.

Eddy, S., J. Un­der­hill. 1974. North­ern Fishes, 3rd Ed.. Min­neapo­lis, Min­nesota: Uni­ver­sity of Min­nesota Press.

Et­nier, D., E. Et­nier. 2005. "Yel­low bull­head" (On-line). Dis­cover Life in Amer­ica. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 31, 2005 at http://​www.​dlia.​org/​atbi/​species/​animals/​vertebrates/​fish/​Ictaluridae/​A_​natalis.​shtml.

Et­nier, D., W. Starnes. 1993. The Fishes of Ten­nesse. Knoxville, Ten­nesee: Uni­veristy of Ten­nesse Press.

Gray, E., W. Lel­lis, J. Cole, C. John­son. 2001. Host Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion for Strophi­tus un­du­la­tus (Bi­valvia: Union­idae), the Creeper, in the Upper Susque­hanna River Basin, Penn­syl­va­nia. The Amer­i­can Mid­land Nat­u­ral­ist, Vol. 147, No. 1: 153-161. Ac­cessed No­vem­ber 30, 2005 at http://​www.​bioone.​org/​bioone/?​request=get-document&​issn=0003-0031&​volume=147&​issue=01&​page=0153.

Hubbs, C., K. La­gler. 1958. Fishes of the Great Lakes Re­gion. Ann Arbor, Michi­gan: Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan Press.

Kloss­ner, M. 2005. "No Bull" (On-line). Wis­con­sin De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources. Ac­cessed Oc­to­ber 15, 2005 at http://​www.​wnrmag.​com/​stories/​1998/​oct98/​bull.​htm.

Traut­man, M. 1981. The Fishes of Ohio. Colum­bus, Ohio: Ohio St. Uni­ver­sity Press.