Kevin Markway recently caught and released an albino blue catfish on the Missouri River.

Like other albino wildlife, albino blue catfish are rare and most don’t survive because they are more noticeable to predators when they are young, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The Missouri Department of Conservation estimates that the fish was 8-10 years old.

Iowa is home to 148 different fish species, but you are unlikely to find a Blue Catfish in our state. There are three species of catfish that call Iowa home; Channel, Black Bullhead, and Flathead. According to the Iowa DNR; the Blue Catfish are rarely found in the Mississippi River in Iowa and none have been found in any of the interior streams, although this fish might live in the lower Des Moines River and has been collected in Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs. Blue Catfish were stocked in Big Creek Lake in Polk County in 1972, but none were reported as caught.

Blue catfish are native to the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio River systems, and they can get BIG, with some reaching close to 5-feet in length.
The current world record for a blue catfish is a 143-pound beast caught in 2011 on Kerr Lake, Virginia.

This weekend in Iowa (June 4-6) is FREE FISHING WEEKEND! For these three days, a fishing license is NOT required. All other regulations remain in place. So get out and enjoy the heat this weekend and catch some fish in any of Iowa's 65 lakes, dozens of rivers, or a neighborhood pond or creek...and wear some sunblock. :)

Read more about FREE FISHING WEEKEND, HERE. 

 

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LOOK: Here Are 30 Foods That Are Poisonous to Dogs

To prepare yourself for a potential incident, always keep your vet's phone number handy, along with an after-hours clinic you can call in an emergency. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center also has a hotline you can call at (888) 426-4435 for advice.

Even with all of these resources, however, the best cure for food poisoning is preventing it in the first place. To give you an idea of what human foods can be dangerous, Stacker has put together a slideshow of 30 common foods to avoid. Take a look to see if there are any that surprise you.

 

 

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