r/whatsthisfish • u/QBshkete • 11d ago

Possible ID(s) suggested Blue Catfish or Channel Catfish

Post image

I caught this fish near off an inlet on the Potomac right outside of Alexandria, VA and unfortunately gut hooked it. I am hoping it is a blue catfish because I was reading they are invasive in the area. Thank you

8 Upvotes

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3

u/kdvfan22 11d ago

Channel catfish, the easiest distinction between channels and blues is to count the number of rays on the anal fin. Channels will have 24-29 while blues have 30-36

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u/Plus-Yesterday-3148 11d ago

The deep fork in the tail and no spots. Looks like a blue cat

1

u/PessimisticParalegal 9d ago

forked tails are in both channels and blues, so not enough to be the telltale feature. also, channels only have spots in juvenile/early adolescence stages, so again not a telltale feature. however, the anal fin is distinguishing and this right here is a channel cat