It is not surprising that many people are curious to know if catfish can live and survive out of water. This curiosity comes from the sight in markets where catfish can be found in open bowls and buckets that barely have much water.
Can Catfish Breathe Air and Live out of Water?
The catfish kept in these open bowls in the market seem to be okay and survive for long hours before they are eventually sold.
This is what happens, catfish cannot breathe air or live out of water permanently, and they can only survive in this condition for a few hours. Also, it should be noted that if you must keep catfish in an open bowl with little water, always ensure the water in the bowl can keep its skin moist.
How long can catfish survive out of water?
As mentioned earlier catfish can survive for only a few hours, if it is kept wet. However, it is important that the catfish is returned back to its habitat quickly. The resilience shown by catfish is one of the reasons it can adapt to conditions in different parts of the world, even in areas with stagnant waters.
Do catfish breathe air?
There are so many catfish species, and the traits we have seen in the common catfish species that allow them to survive in moist conditions out of the water means we may be shocked at what some other unobserved catfish species can do outside their natural habitat.
The flathead catfish survive on a minimal oxygen supply, in bowls with little water; catfish have enough contact with the water to absorb very little oxygen needed to survive. If you observe a catfish in such conditions, you will notice it breathes bubbles from its mouth in a shallow bowl containing little water. This is how it extracts oxygen to survive.
Surviving drought
Catfish is one of the known fish species that can survive in areas suddenly hit by drought. The fish can be found in muddy areas after the water in a river has dried up, the little moisture contained in the muddy areas is enough to keep the catfish alive for a while. However, extended periods of drought can reduce the level of moisture in the mud, and the catfish may not survive much longer.
Under normal conditions, the time a catfish can stay out of water is also dependent on the weather conditions. During summer, catfish can hardly survive out of water for very long, in a few minutes out of the water the fish will die. However, in humid weather conditions, the catfish can survive for a longer time.
Catfish raised in fish farms have also shown remarkable ability to survive in minimal levels of water. During the feeding time in catfish farms, you will notice the water surface comes alive with catfish, many of them clambering on the dry land around the pond in search of more food. However, it can be observed that they do not start too far from the water.
This is a confirmation that the catfish must be in contact with water at all times to survive.
