Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Brown bull­head are na­tive to fresh­wa­ter habi­tats in Canada and the United States from 25° to 54° north lat­i­tude. They are dis­trib­uted in the At­lantic and Gulf Slope drainages, rang­ing from Nova Sco­tia and New Brunswick to Mo­bile Bay, Al­abama, and in the Great Lakes, Hud­son Bay, and Mis­sis­sippi basins from Que­bec west to south­east Saskatchewan and south to Louisiana. Brown bull­head have been in­tro­duced out­side of this range, in­clud­ing coun­tries of north­ern, west­ern, and east­ern Eu­rope, the Mid­dle East, New Zealand, Chile, and Puerto Rico (U.S.). They have also been in­tro­duced and well es­tab­lished in the west­ern United States and British Co­lum­bia. (Amer­i­can Fish­eries So­ci­ety, 2004; Barnes and Hicks, 2003; Fish­eries and Oceans Canada, 2010; Froese and Pauly, 2010; Page and Burr, 1991)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • introduced
  • native
• palearctic
  • introduced
• australian
  • introduced

Habi­tat

Brown bull­head are found in pools and slower-mov­ing runs of creeks and rivers, reser­voirs, ponds, and lakes. They are tol­er­ant of a wide range of en­vi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions, in­clud­ing water tem­per­a­tures up to 36 de­grees Cel­sius and oxy­gen lev­els to 0.2 ppm. They pre­fer habi­tats with veg­e­ta­tion and sub­strate. They sur­vive well in do­mes­ti­cally and in­dus­tri­ally pol­luted wa­ters. They are bot­tom dwelling fish. (Barnes and Hicks, 2003; Becker, 1983; Blazer, et al., 2009a; Blazer, et al., 2009b; Fish­eries and Oceans Canada, 2010; Froese and Pauly, 2010; Page and Burr, 1991)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• freshwater

• Aquatic Biomes
• benthic
• lakes and ponds
• rivers and streams
• brackish water

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Brown bull­head look very sim­i­lar to black bull­head (Ameiu­rus melas) and yel­low bull­head (Ameiu­rus na­talis). Brown bull­head are dis­tin­guished by 5 to 8 large, ser­rated teeth on their pec­toral spines , mot­tled col­or­ing on their trunk, lack of dark fin rays, and 11 to 15 gill rak­ers on their first gill arch. An oc­ca­sional solid col­ored trunk has been de­scribed. They have 8 dark brown to black bar­bels on their head (two nasal, two max­il­lary, and four on the chin) which are sen­si­tive to touch and chem­i­cal stim­uli. The an­te­rior por­tion of their body is thicker than the pos­te­rior por­tion. The body is scale­less with a brown to black dor­sal side and a lighter ven­tral side. In cap­tiv­ity, this species loses pig­men­ta­tion, be­com­ing whitish. They have ter­mi­nal mouths with a slightly longer upper jaw and a mouth filled with ir­reg­u­lar rows of tiny teeth on both jaws. How­ever, Baily et al. (2004) de­scribed their jaws as being equal. Their head is dorso-ven­trally flat­tened. They have one dor­sal fin, an adi­pose fin, and a cau­dal fin with a slightly in­dented fork. Typ­i­cal adult length is 200 to 300 mm but they may reach up to 500 mm. Adults typ­i­cally weigh 0.5 kg, but have been recorded at 3.6 kg. No sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence has been found be­tween male and fe­male size. (Baily, et al., 2004; Barnes and Hicks, 2003; Becker, 1983; Blumer, 1985; Michi­gan De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources and En­vi­ron­ment, 2010; Nel­son, 1984; Page and Burr, 1991; Rasquin, 1949; Uni­ver­sity of Wis­con­sin Cen­ter for Lim­nol­ogy, et al., 2010)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• heterothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Range mass

  3.6 (high) kg

  7.93 (high) lb

• Average mass

  0.5 kg

  1.10 lb

• Range length

  500 (high) mm

  19.69 (high) in

• Average length

  200-300 mm

  in

De­vel­op­ment

Mean daily water tem­per­a­ture dur­ing re­pro­duc­tion is 14 to 29 de­grees Cel­sius. Once brown bull­head egg clus­ters are re­leased and fer­til­ized, they take up to 13 days to hatch, but did so on av­er­age at day 5.6 dur­ing a study by Blumer (1985). Egg di­am­e­ter is about 2.2 to 2.7 mm. The lar­val stage lasts 4 to 9 days, but on av­er­age lasted 4.4 days in Blumer's study (1985). Hatched lar­vae are 4 to 8 mm long, lay on nests dur­ing early de­vel­op­ment, and sur­vive on their yolk-sacs. Meta­mor­pho­sis oc­curs be­tween the lar­val and ju­ve­nile stage. Ju­ve­niles re­main in schools. The av­er­age length of the ju­ve­nile stage to the end of parental care is 5 days. (Becker, 1983; Blumer, 1985; Ey­cleshymer, 1901)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis
• indeterminate growth

Re­pro­duc­tion

Brown bull­head are monog­a­mous dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son. Blumer (1985) and Becker (1983) were un­able to de­ter­mine how pair­ing oc­curred. Courtship, oc­cur­ring near nest­ing sites, in­volves hold­ing the part­ners jaw, tail, or head with the mouth, head butting, nib­bling bod­ies, and ca­ress­ing bar­bels. Side-by-side sway­ing has also been ob­served. Pairs set­tle over nests and face away from each other dur­ing ga­mete re­lease. (Becker, 1983; Blumer, 1985; En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Life, 2010)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Brown bull­head spawn once dur­ing the spring and early sum­mer breed­ing sea­son. Dur­ing an ex­ten­sive four year study in Michi­gan by Blumer (1985), this species spawned most fre­quently within the first 16 days of June. He also found that larger males spawned ear­lier in the sea­son. In New Zealand, these fish spawn be­tween Sep­tem­ber and De­cem­ber. They reach sex­ual ma­tu­rity at 3 years of age. Nests, typ­i­cally built by fe­males but some­times by pairs, are ex­ca­va­tions made in the sand, gravel, mud, under roots, and within the shel­ter of logs and veg­e­ta­tion in shal­low water. Sub­strate is sucked into the mouth and re­lo­cated dur­ing nest build­ing. Shel­tered nests are thought to pro­vide pro­tec­tion from preda­tors. Ey­cleshymer (1901) noted nests in pieces of stovepipe and a bucket. Dur­ing nest con­struc­tion males are ter­ri­to­r­ial. Egg clus­ters con­tain 50 to 10,000 eggs. Brown bull­head demon­strate iteropar­ity. Fer­til­iza­tion is ex­ter­nal. (Barnes and Hicks, 2003; Becker, 1983; Blumer, 1985; Ey­cleshymer, 1901; Michi­gan De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources and En­vi­ron­ment, 2010)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• fertilization
  • external
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Brown bullhead spawn once during a breeding season.

• Breeding season

  The breeding season is during the spring and early summer.

• Range number of offspring

  50 to 10,000

• Range time to hatching

  13 (high) days

• Average time to hatching

  5.6 days

• Average time to independence

  9.4 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  3 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  3 years

De­m­er­sal eggs are in­cu­bated and guarded by one or both par­ents who fan the eggs with their fins, which may min­i­mize fun­gal in­fec­tion and help with de­vel­op­ment. After hatch­ing, lar­vae on the nest and school­ing ju­ve­niles are guarded by one or both par­ents who chase away other fish. If ju­ve­niles leave the school, par­ents will cap­ture them and re­turn them with their mouths. Blumer (1985 and 1986a) found males to be pri­mary care­givers: 56.2% of broods were cared for by both sexes, 39.3% by males only, and 4.5% by fe­males only. Max­i­mum length of parental care is 29 days. (Becker, 1983; Blumer, 1985; Blumer, 1986a; Blumer, 1986b)

• Parental Investment
• male parental care
• female parental care
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-independence
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Brown bull­head live 6 to 8 years. Max­i­mum age of brown bull­head is 9 years. Pre­da­tion pres­sure is strongest dur­ing the egg and lar­val stages. (Blumer, 1986b; Froese and Pauly, 2010; Michi­gan De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources and En­vi­ron­ment, 2010)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  9 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: wild

  6 to 8 years

Be­hav­ior

Brown bull­head are a non-mi­gra­tory species. They are so­cial fish that spend time in schools. (Blazer, et al., 2009a; Blazer, et al., 2009b)

• Key Behaviors
• natatorial
• nocturnal
• motile
• sedentary
• territorial
• social

Home Range

Home range sizes of brown bull­heads are not re­ported.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Brown bull­head are no­table for their sound pro­duc­tion, likely pro­duced by rub­bing body parts to­gether. In the lab, they pro­duce sound dur­ing ag­gres­sive, con­spe­cific en­coun­ters. Sound pro­duc­tion, thought to be a re­sponse to dis­tur­bances, was recorded in the field and iden­ti­fied with cap­tured fish. Grouped in the su­per­order Os­tar­io­physi, they share the de­rived trait of the alarm re­sponse (Shreck­stoff). (An­der­son, et al., 2008; Fine, et al., 1997; Helf­man, et al., 2009)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• chemical

Food Habits

Brown bull­head are ben­thic, op­por­tunis­tic om­ni­vores. In aquar­ium set­tings they eat most food given to them. Ju­ve­niles eat zoo­plank­ton, in­clud­ing chi­rono­mids, clado­cer­ans, os­tra­cods, and am­phipods, in­sects, in­clud­ing mayfly lar­vae and cad­dis­fly lar­vae, and plants. Adults feed on in­sects, small fish, fish eggs, mol­lusks, plants, leeches, worms, and cray­fish. They typ­i­cally are noc­tur­nal feed­ers, but have been ob­served feed­ing dur­ing the day. They use their bar­bels to lo­cate food. (Barnes and Hicks, 2003; Becker, 1983; Fish­eries and Oceans Canada, 2010; Froese and Pauly, 2010; Kline and Wood, 1996; Raney and Web­ster, 1940)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • piscivore
  • eats eggs
• omnivore

• Animal Foods
• fish
• eggs
• insects
• mollusks
• terrestrial worms
• aquatic or marine worms
• aquatic crustaceans
• zooplankton

• Plant Foods
• macroalgae

Pre­da­tion

Preda­tors of brown bull­head in­clude north­ern pike (Esox lu­cius), muskel­lunge (Esox masquinongy), wall­eye (Sander vit­reus), snap­ping tur­tles (Chely­dra ser­pentina), water snakes (Nero­dia species), and green herons (Bu­torides virescens). Min­nows (Pimephales and Notro­pis species), yel­low perch (Perca flavescens), and sun­fishes (Lep­omis species) are the most com­mon preda­tors on eggs. (Becker, 1983; Blumer, 1986b; Michi­gan De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources and En­vi­ron­ment, 2010)

• Anti-predator Adaptations
• cryptic

• Known Predators

  • northern pike (Esox lucius)
  • muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)
  • walleye (Sander vitreus)
  • snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina)
  • water snakes (Nerodia species)
  • green herons (Butorides virescens)
  • minnows (Pimephales species)
  • minnows (Notropis species)
  • yellow perch (Perca flavescens)
  • sunfishes (Lepomis species)

Ecosys­tem Roles

Brown bull­head are preda­tory fish and prey on other an­i­mals.

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Brown bull­head are the sub­ject of a small scale recre­ational and com­mer­cial fish­ery in Canada and in the United States. They have been im­por­tant re­search an­i­mals for the study of sen­sory hair cells as well as phys­i­o­log­i­cal changes due to tem­per­a­ture, taste, oxy­gen usage, and os­moreg­u­la­tion. They are also an im­por­tant in­di­ca­tor species in pol­lu­tion stud­ies. (Becker, 1983; Blazer, et al., 2009a; Blazer, et al., 2009b; Bowen, 1931; Chris­tensen, et al., 1972; Fish­eries and Oceans Canada, 2010; Lesko, et al., 1996; Michi­gan De­part­ment of Nat­ural Re­sources and En­vi­ron­ment, 2010; Sakaris and Je­sien, 2005; West, et al., 2006)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• research and education

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

There are no known ad­verse ef­fects of brown bull­head on hu­mans.

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Brown bull­head are not listed for pro­tec­tion under the IUCN Red List, the United States En­dan­gered Species Pro­gram, or under a CITES ap­pen­dix. (In­ter­na­tional Union for Con­ser­va­tion of Na­ture and Nat­ural Re­sources, 2009; U.S. Fish & Wildlife Ser­vice, 2010; United Na­tions En­vi­ron­ment Pro­gramme and World Con­ser­va­tion Mon­i­tor­ing Cen­tre, 2010)

• IUCN Red List

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Rachael Guth (au­thor), North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­sity, Rachelle Ster­ling (ed­i­tor), Spe­cial Pro­jects, Jill Leonard (ed­i­tor), North­ern Michi­gan Uni­ver­sity, Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

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An­der­son, K., R. Roun­tree, F. Juanes. 2008. Sonif­er­ous fishes in the Hud­son River. Trans­ac­tions of the Amer­i­can Fish­eries So­ci­ety, 137: 616-626.

Baily, R., W. Latta, G. Smith. 2004. An atlas of Michi­gan fishes with keys and il­lus­tra­tions for their iden­ti­fi­ca­tion. Ann Arbor: Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan.

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Blazer, V., J. Fournie, J. Wolf, M. Wolfe. 2006. Di­ag­nos­tic cri­te­ria for pro­lif­er­a­tive he­patic le­sions in brown bull­head Ameiu­rus neb­u­lo­sus. Dis­eases of Aquatic Or­gan­isms, 72: 19-30.

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