Giant Six-Haired Catfish
The six-eared catfish has a long body and is scaleless. It has a wide, flattened head with a remarkably wide mouth filled with hundreds of fine, sandpaper-like teeth. It has a pair of whisker-like sensory barbels on both its upper and lower jaws, which help it to capture prey in murky waters. Therefore, its silhouettes are widespread across the large European lakes and slow-flowing rivers. Six-eared catfish are experienced hunters, usually living on the bottom of the water and quickly rising to the surface when they hear movements on the surface, typically hunting near the riverbank. European giant catfish create vortices by moving their chest fins to disorient prey, then open their huge mouths like a vacuum cleaner to suck in prey and swallow it whole.
The terrifying legends about the six-eared catfish date back to the 15th century, but the 2008 attack in Berlin's Schlachtensee Lake, where a young man and two girls were attacked while swimming in a shallow area near the shore, prompted a resurgence of interest. Some six-eared catfish were caught in Russia, and human remains were found in their stomachs. Many people believe that the attacker was a 5-foot-long six-eared catfish. However, most experts believe that the victims had already drowned before being swallowed by the catfish, and the catfish simply ate their bodies. Nevertheless, during their breeding season, six-eared catfish exhibited highly aggressive behavior, so it was reasonable to believe they would attack humans if someone entered their territory.
Six-eared catfish can live for up to 80 years, they like to build nests among water plants, and lay their eggs in the nests during the breeding season, protecting 300,000 yellow fish eggs until they hatch. Any intruder during the hatching period will be attacked by the six-eared catfish, because freshwater shrimp or other organisms will eat unprotected fish eggs.
Six-eared catfish have nesting and guarding behaviors, and swimmers are considered invaders, so they will bite swimmers, which is the reason for the six-eared catfish's 'cannibalism'. The previous legends were not unfounded.
Six-eared catfish also have lateral lines to observe any signals in the water, including currents, aquatic plants, and aquatic animals.
The six whiskers on the catfish's head act like radar, detecting information in the water.
Its long body has a foil-like pattern, with a rough and imposing appearance, and should not be mixed with small fish.
The six-eared catfish's muscle water content is 78.63%, the meat is relatively tender; the total ash content of the muscles is 1.17%, calcium content is 1.24mg/100g, the rough fat content is 4.95%, and the rough protein content is 17.06%, which has high nutritional value.
