Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Channel Cat or Blue Cat....?

We catch a lot of channel cats & Blues in our local lakes here in Texas. The channels and the blues are easy to tell apart but we also catch a catfish (not a flathead or Op...)that resembles a channel or Blue but looks like a different species - it has a big head but it body is very poor - almost looks sick. We enough of these that it would be hard to dispell them as just being sick or deformed.
Anyone know of someone who does "Fish Genetic analysis"...? We would like to send in a Channel Cat and a BlueCat and one of these Big Headed fish to see if they were of the same genetics of one or the other....

You could check out Texas Parks & Wildlife Catfish/Bullhead I.D.

They have fairly good descriptions and pictures of the (common) cats in TX.

Sounds like sick fish to me that are having trouble feeding. I really doubt that it/they are of a different species. For some reason they are having trouble competing.

You know i have seen awide varity of Channel catfish, or what I think are catfish. I catch these in BIG public waters. Some of the channels are an Olive greenish color and others are more of a slate gray. Does any one know WHY this is? I usually catch this greener fish in Santee cooper, and chatch these grey looking channels in Westpoint lake in Georgia - Alabama.