Ontario-Great Lakes Area Fact Sheets

Brown Bullhead

General Description

The brown bullhead is a member of the catfish family and has the following characteristics:

• a heavy, rounded body with a large, wide head;
• a wide, terminal mouth with 4 pairs of dark brown to black barbels;
• the back, top of the head and sides are yellow-brown, olive, grey to almost blue-black;
• the lower sides are dirty white and the underside is pale yellow to white;
• the fins are the same colour as the body but paler and there is some darker pigment on ray membranes.

Distribution

The brown bullhead is native to the freshwaters of eastern and central North America. In Canada, it is found from Nova Scotia, through New Brunswick, the southern tip of Quebec, across southern Ontario at the level of Lake Nipissing, to the north shore of Lake Superior, through southern Manitoba and as far west as the Whitesand-Assiniboine system of southeast Saskatchewan. In British Columbia, it was introduced in the lower Fraser River and several lakes on lower Vancouver Island.

Habitat and Life History

The brown bullhead is a warm-water species found usually near or on the bottom in shallow, warm water situations, in ponds, small lakes, shallow bays of larger lakes, and larger slow-moving streams with abundant aquatic vegetation, and sand to mud bottoms. The brown bullhead spawns in the late spring and summer, probably May and June in Canada. One or both sexes clear a shallow nest in a bottom of mud or sand or among the roots of aquatic vegetation, usually near the protection of a stump, rock or tree. They will also nest under boards, in hollow stumps, and even inside automobile tires nailed on docks. The water over these nesting sites can be as shallow as 15 cm (6 inches) or as deep as several feet. After spawning, the eggs are cared for by one or both parents. They fan and manipulate them with their barbels and this is necessary for the eggs to hatch. After about 6 - 9 days, the eggs hatch and the young lie on their sides in the nest until about the seventh day. The juveniles are guarded by one or both parents in a school for several weeks, after which time they disperse.

Food Habits

Brown bullheads feed on or near the bottom, mainly at night, and they search for their food using mainly their barbels. They are omnivorous and their food is composed of offal, waste, molluscs, immature insects, terrestrial insects, leeches, crustaceans, worms, algae, plant material, fishes and fish eggs.

Economic Importance

The brown bullhead is not one of the more popular freshwater fishes in Canada. Some people even find its appearance distasteful. However, it is of recreational and commercial importance, where the major commercial catch is from Ontario.

The flesh of brown bullheads is delicious cooked in a variety of ways.

Fishing Facts

Brown bullheads are very tolerant of conditions of temperature, oxygen and pollution, which might be limiting for other species. They seem particularly resistant to domestic and industrial pollution, as was seen in some heavily polluted streams near Montreal where the brown bullhead was the only fish species present.

Further Information

For further information, please contact your local DFO office: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans-habitat/habitat/aboutus-apropos/regions/arctic-arctique_e.asp?#1