What's the difference between snakehead and catfish? A quick guide to telling them apart

The snakehead is a common food fish in China, known for its large size, fast growth and high economic value in aquaculture. The catfish, also called the mud catfish, is the most widely distributed fish in the family Siluridae and has many species. Many people think the snakehead and the catfish are the same kind of fish. Let's take a look below at how the snakehead and the catfish differ!

Snakehead and catfish have different alternative names

1. Snakehead: The snakehead is the common name for Channa argus, also known as snakehead murrel, snakehead fish, wealth fish, snake fish, fire-head fish and so on. It is found in all the major river systems of China, as well as on the Korean Peninsula and in Japan.

2. Catfish: The catfish is also known as walking catfish, whiskered catfish, sticky fish, pond catfish, live-bearer fish and so on, and is distributed all over the world.

Snakehead and catfish belong to different families and genera

1. Snakehead: The snakehead belongs to the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, class Actinopterygii, order Perciformes, suborder Channoidei, family Channidae, genus Channa.

2. Catfish: The catfish belongs to the animal kingdom, phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Actinopterygii, order Siluriformes, family Siluridae, genus Silurus.

The difference in appearance between snakehead and catfish

1. Snakehead: The front part of the snakehead's body is cylindrical and the rear part is laterally compressed. The body color is grayish-black, with the back and top of the head darker, and the belly pale white. There are irregular black patches on each side of the body, and 2 rows of black stripes on each side of the head. The dorsal fin is quite long, almost connected to the caudal fin, with no hard spines, starting above the base of the pectoral fin. The pelvic fins are short and small.

2. Catfish: An adult catfish has 2 pairs of barbels, 4 in total. The maxillary barbels can reach as far as the end of the pectoral fin, while the mandibular barbels are shorter. In the juvenile stage there are 3 pairs of barbels, and when the body length reaches about 60 mm, 1 pair of chin barbels begins to disappear. The body is very slimy and scaleless, the dorsal fin is very small with no hard spine and 4 to 6 fin rays, and there is no adipose fin. The anal fin is very long, with its rear end connected to the caudal fin. The body color is usually dark brown or grayish-black, with faint dark cloud-like patches.

The difference in benefits between snakehead and catfish

1. Snakehead: The snakehead is cold in nature and sweet in taste, and enters the spleen and stomach meridians. It has the effects of tonifying the spleen and promoting water metabolism, removing blood stasis and generating new tissue, and clearing heat. It is mainly used for edema, dampness-type joint pain, beriberi, hemorrhoids, scabies and other conditions.

2. Catfish: The catfish is sweet in taste and warm in nature, and has the effects of tonifying the middle and boosting yang, promoting urination and treating edema, but it should not be eaten together with beef and mutton fat, beef liver, venison, wild boar meat, pheasant or the Chinese herb Schizonepeta.