Cats of a Different Color

LISTEN: (5 min, 30 sec)

 

NOEL IBARRA has a rich history for sniffing out fat cats. During winter of 2019, the 44-year-old Lake Tawakoni / Ray Hubbard fishing guide steered 12-year-old Brayden Rogers of Cisco to a youth state record blue cat weighing 67 pounds. Rogers’ record from Tawakoni has since been broken by Cade Childress of Pickton. Childress’ 72.4 pounder also was caught at Tawakoni.

It’s hard to imagine tangling with such a big fish on a hook and line tipped with thick chunk of gizzard shad, but Ibarra guided Kenny Quiett of Delia, Kansas to an even larger one in February 2020. Quiett’s fish weighed in at 80 pounds. That’s well off the Tawakoni lake record mark of 87.50 pounds, and a far cry from Lake Texoma’s state rod and reel record blue cat of 121.50 pounds, but it was a giant just the same.

Ibarra was up to his old tricks on February 4 when Lady Luck came calling again. He saw a bump of the rod tip, set the hook and handed the rod to one of his clients as he usually does.

The 32.06 pounder the angler reeled in from two feet of muddy water was less than half the size of some blues Ibarra has caught and released, but it was a trophy cat just the same.

The fish was colored up differently than anyone on the boat had ever seen. Blue catfish are typically slate blue to gray on the back, fading to a whitish hue on the belly. The skin on Ibarra’s fish was a pale white with pinkish fins and tail. He called it an albino.

“I knew it the second I saw it break the surface — you could really see it once we worked it close to the boat,” Ibarra said. “It was a beautiful fish.”

It’s not the first time Ibarra’s boat has accounted for a blue cat with peculiar markings. In 2022, he caught a fish that was mostly white with a few bluish-grey splotches mixed in. The technical name for the condition is “piebald.” It’s a natural pigmentation mutation that can occur in all sorts of animals, including white-tailed deer. TPWD fisheries biologist Jake Norman evaluated a photograph of Ibarra’s piebald catfish soon after it was caught and released. He said it was the first he’d seen documented in eastern Texas and one of a few he’s seen during his career. “I have seen both channel and blue catfish display the piebald pigmentation trait, but it is still a very rare occurrence overall.” Norman added that the factors that cause the condition in catfish and other wild animals are not fully understood.

“It is without question a genetic mutation that causes a variation in the natural pigmentation of the fish, but the base cause of the mutation is still unknown,” he said.

Albinism in the catfish world may be even rarer than piebaldism, according to Norman. The biologist evaluated photos of Ibarra’s most recent catch. Knowing what he knows about fisheries science, Norman was hesitant to confirm it as a true albino. Instead, he thinks the lighter coloration was likely the result of the muddy water environment from which it was caught. Another possibility is the fish was leucistic. Norman says leucism is partial albinism. The condition can’t be confirmed without genetics testing. Norman says a pure albino results from genetic abnormalities that cause a reduction or complete absence in the production of melanin — the pigment in the skin or hair that gives it color.

“A true albino catfish would look almost glossy white and have more pink coloration expressed around thin-skinned areas, such as fin tips and eyes,” he said. “Noel’s fish is an interesting fish for sure. And while it does have a very light overall appearance and some light pink edges around its fins, I believe this fish is simply light in color from the recent heavy rains and muddy water.”

Norman says several species of fish, including catfish, have the ability to regulate pigment to better blend in with their surroundings. Fish may lighten up in dirty water and turn darker in clear water.

“Several species of fish have more pigment cell types than any other vertebrate on this planet,” he said. “This chameleon-like effect can be driven by several things, including hormone changes (aggression or stress) and photoreceptors in the eyes that detect changes in light around them. All of these result in less or more pigment expressed on the surface of the fish.”

Norman says anglers can observe these changes in pigmentation in short order by simply placing a fish caught from deep or muddy water in a livewell.

“Typically, that fish will be very grey or silver when first caught, but will soon display darker colors in the livewell, and even display more pronounced bars, splotches, etc. depending on the species,” Norman said.

Norman has witnessed such changes first hand with crappie. He said he and a friend once caught about 40 crappie from 30 feet of water Lake Tyler. Pale in color, the fish looked like white crappie when placed in the livewell.

“After 10-15 minutes in the livewell, they had all colored up and were clearly black crappie,” he said.

 

 

 

Email Matt Williams at ContactUs@fishgame.com

< PREV

Return to CONTENTS Page

NEXT >