Have you ever seen a catfish? If so, you might already know where its name came from. Long, thin tendrils protrude from around their mouths. These look a lot like whiskers! However, catfish don’t have whiskers of hair like cats and dogs. Instead, these special whisker-like feelers are made of skin. They’re called “barbels.”

How do catfish use their barbels? Each one is loaded with tiny taste buds and special olfactory sensors. These help the fish taste and smell. Catfish tend to live in dark, murky waters where their vision isn’t very useful. Barbels help the fish search out food using their senses of touch and taste.

Barbel whiskers are only part of where the catfish got its name. When caught, they make a noise that sounds a bit like a cat purring. However, this may be where the similarities between catfish and cats end. Catfish can easily grow to become much larger than a cat—and sometimes even larger than a kid!

In fact, the largest catfish ever caught was about the size of a grizzly bear. Captured in Thailand’s Mekong River, the fish weighed in at 646 pounds. On top of being the largest catfish, it is also currently the largest freshwater fish on record.

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