---
title: "Getüpfelter Gabelwels"
description: "Ictalurus punctatus — Fische. The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), known informally as the \"channel cat\", is a species of catfish native to North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/de/animal/channel-catfish
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Getüpfelter Gabelwels

> Ictalurus punctatus — Fische. The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), known informally as the "channel cat", is a species of catfish native to North America.

- Scientific name: *Ictalurus punctatus*
- Category: `fish` (Fische)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (See & Fluss)
- iNaturalist observations: 12469
- Wikidata: [Q836957](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q836957)
- iNaturalist taxon: [81554](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/81554)

## Names

- en: Channel Catfish
- de: Getüpfelter Gabelwels
- es: Bagre de canal
- fr: Barbue de rivière
- nl: Kanaalmeerval
- pt: Bagre-americano
- pl: Sum kanałowy

## Countries with the most observations

US (10128), CA (714), MX (121), IT (120), ES (18), JP (17), PR (14), CL (9), PT (9), RU (9), HN (5), CN (4)

## Summary

The channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), known informally as the "channel cat", is a species of catfish native to North America. They are North America's most abundant catfish species, and the official state fish of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Tennessee. The channel catfish is the most fished species of catfish in the United States, with around 8 million anglers angling them per year. The popularity of channel catfish for food has contributed to the rapid expansion of this species' aquaculture in the United States. It has also been widely introduced to Europe, Asia and South America, and many countries consider…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_catfish

## Photo

![Getüpfelter Gabelwels](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/channel-catfish/medium.jpg)

Photo: Daniel Estabrooks · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/162689576

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/channel-catfish?lang=de` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).