Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned

Actinopterygii

The Actinopterygii or ray-finned fishes constitute a class or sub-class of the bony fishes.The ray-finned fishes are so called because they possess lepidotrichia or "fin rays", their fins being webs of skin supported by bony or horny spines , as opposed to the fleshy, lobed fins that characterize...

 fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

. Named for their prominent barbel

Barbel (anatomy)

A barbel on a fish is a slender, whiskerlike tactile organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, sturgeon, the zebrafish and some species of shark...

s, which resemble a cat's whisker

Whisker

Whisker may refer to:* an element of box plots* cat's whisker diode, a thin wire used as a contact on a crystal radio receiver* facial hair, hair on the face of a human* vibrissa, a hair on the face of a mammal, used for sensing the surroundings...

s, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish

Mekong giant catfish

The Mekong giant catfish, Pangasianodon gigas, is a species of catfish in the shark catfish family , native to the Mekong basin in Southeast Asia.-Species characteristics:...

 from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish

Wels catfish

The wels catfish , also called sheatfish, is a large catfish found in wide areas of central, southern, and eastern Europe, and near the Baltic and Caspian Seas. It is a scaleless fresh and brackish water fish recognizable by its broad, flat head and wide mouth...

 of Eurasia, to detritivore

Detritivore

Detritivores, also known as detritophages or detritus feeders or detritus eaters or saprophages, are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus . By doing so, they contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cycles...

s (species that eat dead material on the bottom), and even to a tiny parasitic species commonly called the candiru

Candirú

‎Candiru or candirú , also known as cañero, toothpick fish, or vampire fish, are a number of genera of parasitic freshwater catfish in the family Trichomycteridae; all are native to the Amazon River...

, Vandellia cirrhosa. There are armour-plated types and also naked types, neither having scales.