It's Catfish Month!
It's amazing how scientific research sometimes show Old Wives' Tales are actually true. Remember the one about fish being brain food? It's really true!
Research has shown that nutrients from fish play an important role in how babies' brains develop. These same nutrients may also reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
The Alzheimer’s Association recommends adopting a ‘brain-healthy’ diet which includes cold water fish. Halibut, mackerel, salmon, trout and tuna contain higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. The American Heart Association recommends seafood for anyone, but in particular for those with heart problems because the AHA believes fish reduces your risk for heart disease, stroke and irregular heart beats.
Nutrients in fish help to decrease blood triglycerides and increase HDL (good) cholesterol. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, two seafood meals a week may cut the risk of sudden cardiac death in half.
Seafood helps with healthy eyes, lungs and skin. It may reduce the symptoms of asthma and bronchitis. Fish may even reduce the damaging effects from sun and aging.
Catfish is the No. 1 farm-raised fin-fish in America. The United States produces more catfish than all other farmed fish combined. Americans are eating more of it, too. Catfish is the fourth most-popular fish in the United States.
U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish live in environmentally controlled, clay-based ponds, filled with fresh water pumped from underground wells and filtered by alluvial aquifers. The average pond, constructed by building above-ground levees to serve as natural barriers, is 10 to 20 land acres in area and 4- to 6-feet deep. The fish are fed a diet of high-protein soy pellets that float on top of the water.
CATFISH FUN FACTS
- It is illegal to lasso a fish in Tennessee.
- The walking catfish moves across land from one body of water to another. It uses its pectoral fins like legs and has a modified gill chamber to get oxygen from the air.
- Texans eat more catfish than any other state in America.
- The catfish is the official fish of Missouri.
- Catfish don’t have scales.
- The electric catfish, native to Africa, is capable of generating up to 350 volts.
- The glass catfish is mostly transparent and often seen in home aquariums.
- The “whiskers” that make catfish look like cats are really barbels (bar-bulls), which are covered with taste buds that allow the fish to find food in the murkiest of water.
- Belzoni, Miss., is the catfish capital of the world. This Mississippi Delta town has a festival and a catfish-eating contest.
- Fishermen in northern Thailand netted a fish as big as a grizzly bear, a 646-pound Mekong giant catfish.
Does all this talk of catfish have you hungry for a plateful of it? Check out the links below for some yummy recipes featuring the catch of the month: catfish!
Trivia Source: The Catfish Institute
Published 08/03/07
