Blue Cats and Zebra Mussels

[crappieslinger]

Craig,
I am have noticed something recently that I hope you can clear up for me. I have recently fished Melvern and as you know zebra mussels are present in Melvern. I have caught many live wells full of crappie and had no issues with it getting plugged up. I have also caught a few walleye and had no issues with the live well plugging up. A couple days ago I ended up catching a 6 lb blue cat while fishing for crappie at Melvern and threw him in the live well. We had probably 15 crappie and that blue cat in the live well at the end of the day. When we loaded the boat and pulled the plug on the live well I couldnt get the live well to drain worth a crap. I bailed the water out and came on home thinking it must have been full of scales or something else in the drain line.
Tonight I blew the line out and it was plugged full of zebra mussel shells. It was just the open shells, nothing else was present as far as the actual mussels (at least in what I recovered from the plugged drain line).

So my question is, do blue cats eat zebra mussels and then "puke" the shells out later? I have to believe it was the blue cat that caused this as I have had a whole lot of fish go through this live well and never had this issue before. I know for certain they did not come from the intake for the live well as the screen is too small to allow them to get through the intake. These zebra mussel shells had to come from something I put in the live well and I am fairly certain it was the blue cat that did it.

If it makes any difference, I recovered probably 75-100 shells from my live well drain line. No telling how many came out before it plugged up.


These zebra mussels are just nasty thick in Melvern now. They have cut our line several times recently. Get just the slightest hung up and pull just a little bit and it cuts the line like a knife.
Sad to think that this could have and can be prevented if people would engage their brain and use their head for something other than a hat rack.....

[Tucker]

I am by no means an expert but I have heard that blue catfish do eat zebra mussels and my guess would be that the fish was stressed and threw up what was in its stomach after you put it in the live well. That is really interesting though. It won't be too long before they are everywhere.

[Craig Johnson]

Craig,
...So my question is, do blue cats eat zebra mussels and then "puke" the shells out later?

crappieslinger,

Yes, blue catfish will feed heavily upon zebra mussels when available. Normally the shells will pass through the digestive tract as all other food items but in times of stress fish may regurgitate stomach contents.

Recent studies have shown that zebra mussels are capable of passing through the digestive tract of blue catfish without being killed. This is one justification for the new ANS regualation of not transporting live fish from an ANS infected water body. If a live blue catfish is transported from a zebra mussel infested water and released in an uninfested water it would be possible for that blue catfish to transfer live zebra mussels to the uninfested water via its' digestive tract.

Here's a few pictures of a blue catfish full of zebra mussels from El Dorado Reservoir during 2006. When they fish are full of zebra mussels, you can feel their bellies and it feels (and sounds like) they are full of corn flakes.

...Sad to think that this could have and can be prevented if people would engage their brain and use their head for something other than a hat rack.....

The spread of ANS is certainly preventable if everyone would follow CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY. Every lake, Every time.

[crappieslinger]

Thank you for the quick response Craig! I was certainly shocked to find that many shells in the drain line. I will be making a piece of screen to put over the drain next time I have blue cats in the live well!

I am surprised that the shells can pass through the digestive tract without causing damage as sharp as they are. It would seem like the sharp edges of the shells would cause a lot of damage internally.

Is it only blue cats eat the zebra mussels or do others species in the Siluriformes order eat them as well?

[Craig Johnson]

Thank you for the quick response Craig! I was certainly shocked to find that many shells in the drain line. I will be making a piece of screen to put over the drain next time I have blue cats in the live well!

I am surprised that the shells can pass through the digestive tract without causing damage as sharp as they are. It would seem like the sharp edges of the shells would cause a lot of damage internally.

Is it only blue cats eat the zebra mussels or do others species in the Siluriformes order eat them as well?

crappieslinger,

Channel catfish are also known to eat zebra mussels, just not to the extent that the blues do. Other fish in Kansas will also eat zebra mussels such as the common carp and freshwater drum. I've seen carp and drum completely PACKED with pieces of shells. The carp and drum will crush the shells before swallowing them so they appear to be full of 'chewed up light bulbs' when feeding heavily on zebra mussels. Despite the predation by fish, zebra mussels still thrive due to their very prolific nature.