Yellow Bullhead

The yellow bullhead is a medium-sized member of the catfish family. It is typically yellow-olive to slate black on the back and may appear mottled depending on its habitat, though generally not as strongly as the brown bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus). The sides are lighter and more yellowish, while the underside of the head and body are bright yellow, yellow white, or bright white. The rear edge of its caudal fin is rounded. The anal fin has anywhere between 24 and 27 constituent rays, more than that of other bullheads. The yellow bullhead can be easily distinguished from A. nebulosus and the black bullhead (A. melas) by the group of white barbels or "whiskers" under its chin. The pectoral spines are barbed posteriorly like those of the brown bullhead. Unlike flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris), there are no lateral extensions present on the upper (premaxillary) tooth patch. Its eyes are generally smaller than those of the snail bullhead (A. brunneus) or the flat bullhead (A. platycephalus) and there is no blotch at the base of the dorsal fin. Yellow bullheads are medium-sized bullheads that rarely grow larger than 2 lb (0.91 kg), but can reach up to 6 lb 6 oz (2.89 kg). Yellow bullheads may grow to a maximum total length (TL) of 60 centimetres (24 in), though they are more commonly 22.5 centimetres (8.9 in) TL, and can live up to 12 years.

Yellow bullhead are bottom dwellers, living in areas with muck, rock, sand, or clay substrates. Its habitat includes river pools, backwaters, and sluggish current over soft or mildly rocky substrate in creeks, small to larger rivers, and shallow portions of lakes and ponds. Their habitat can vary from a slow current with poorly oxygenated, highly silted, and highly polluted water to a more swift current with clean and clear water that has aquatic vegetation. Fishermen often find them in sluggish creeks and rivers with a gravel bottom.

The yellow bullhead is a voracious scavenger that will almost eat anything. It locates prey by brushing the stream bottom with its barbels. Taste buds on the barbels tell the yellow bullhead whether or not contact is made with edible prey. They typically feed at night on a variety of plant and animal material, both live and dead, most commonly consisting of worms, insects, snails, minnows, clams, crayfish, other small aquatic organisms, plant matter, and decaying animal matter. Compared to black and brown bullheads, yellow bullheads consume more aquatic vegetation.

Named both Ictalurus natalis and Ameiurus natalis. Ictalurus, Greek, meaning "fish cat"; Ameiurus, Greek, meaning "privative curtailed," in reference to the caudal fin lacking a notch; natalis, Latin, meaning "of birth." Charles Alexandre Lesueur, when he originally described the species in 1819, invented a common name Pimelode Noël, which likely commemorates the naturalist Simon Barthélemy Joseph Noël de la Morinière (1765–1822) and also may be the source of the specific name he assigned (from French: Noel), though it was not explicitly stated in either case.