Catfish are among the most widely farmed freshwater fish globally, with welfare considerations specific to their bottom-dwelling, sensory-rich biology.
Catfish welfare in aquaculture has received less research attention than salmonid welfare partly because major production occurs in countries with less developed animal welfare regulatory frameworks. Yet catfish possess sophisticated sensory systems — chemoreceptors distributed across their body surface detect chemical signals in water, barbels provide tactile information, and lateral line organs sense pressure waves. These adaptations to nocturnal predator environments suggest cognitive sophistication relevant to welfare capacity. Production conditions that create chronic high-arousal states through constant illumination, high density, and ammonia stress impose welfare costs on animals with the neurological capacity to experience them. Better welfare standards for pangasius catfish — a species farmed at enormous scale in Vietnam for global export — would have substantial welfare impact given the production volumes involved.