Q 01/05

Giant catfish introduced to France's River Tarn have been filmed lunging onto the bank to snatch which birds?

A) Ducklings

B) Pigeons

C) Moorhens

D) Seagulls

Answer · why

B) Pigeons

Pigeons at the water's edge were caught in 28% of the lunges that researchers filmed. The beaching trick has never been reported from the rivers furth...

Q 02/05

In Japanese mythology, the Namazu is a giant catfish living under the islands whose thrashing causes what?

A) Earthquakes

B) Typhoons

C) Tsunamis

D) Thunderstorms

Answer · why

A) Earthquakes

Earthquakes strike when the god who pins the fish beneath a stone at Kashima lets his guard fall. Woodblock prints of the catfish sold in great number...

Q 03/05

Catfish can find food in dark, muddy water thanks to what, spread across the skin of the entire body?

A) Heat sensors

B) Fine hairs

C) Taste buds

D) Sticky mucus

Answer · why

C) Taste buds

Taste buds cover the whole skin as well as the inside of the mouth cavity, which is why biologists call catfish 'swimming tongues'. They are especiall...

Q 04/05

Under Jewish dietary law, catfish are not kosher because they lack which feature that permitted fish must have?

A) Fins

B) Gills

C) Eyelids

D) Scales

Answer · why

D) Scales

Scales and fins are both required, and a catfish has only the fins. Its skin is either naked and coated in mucus or, in some families, armoured with b...

Q 05/05

What name is given in the American South to catching catfish with bare hands by reaching into their holes?

A) Jugging

B) Gigging

C) Noodling

D) Trotlining

Answer · why

C) Noodling

Noodling uses the angler's own hand as bait: the catfish swims forward and latches on, and is then hauled out of its hole. Safety worries have made th...