Think I found a RTC cat skull in a lake...

[Fishkeeper]

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/4/c2p8.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/4/c2p8.jpg/)
Found this in a local lake... It's part of a fish skull. The curved bit at one end is where the mouth would be and the prong on the other end shows that it's the end attached to the neck. That thing is MASSIVE. Eight inches long, easily, and that's just the head! This is the top of the skull and seems to have a section for the backbone to attach to. I'm thinking RTC because the mouth end is the wrong shape for a 'gator gar and I don't know of any other Central Texas fish that gets that huge, so it's probably introduced. That, or it was a gigantic bass. Any clue what this is? I compared it to catfish skull pictures and it seems fairly similar...

[madagascariensis]

I don't think it is from a redtail catfish, as a redtail would likely not survive long enough to grow to that size in north america, and big ones tend to have found good homes, so would have no business in the wild.
a flathead, blue, channel or other large north american would be more likely, even though they may not be native to your area.

I don't think it is a bass skull. shape is off and it looks way too sturdy.

[Fishkeeper]

I did some research... I think it's a channel catfish. How large do you suppose a channel cat would have needed to be to have a skull eight inches long?

[talldutchie]

Wouldn't blue catfish be more likely then?

[Fishkeeper]

I'm just comparing the skull piece I have to the pictures I can find... I don't think it's a flathead, but I don't think I can tell for sure. How large a fish do you think this is from? It was over in the shallows, lodged in some plants with no other bones around it... I'm guessing maybe it died of old age, there aren't any gators in that lake and I can't think of anything else that would kill something that large. I mean, I'm guessing we're talking a fish somewhere around four feet long, at least.

[talldutchie]

If you really want to know dig up the original species description, it should say something about proportions.

Many things can kill fish. Extreme heat for example. Or a particular clumsy angler.

[JoeH]

well asking abt size if it was a flathead they bulk up short and so it would be massive if fklathead if it a blue or channel prob a 50-75 lb fish. we get a lot that size here in ill we on the mississippi river fish for them all time. 50 lb flatheads are avg size here

[Fishkeeper]

Alright, thanks for the help! Guess I'll just say it's some sort of catfish, possibly a blue... I was more just curious, I don't need an exact ID.

[JoeH]

look this video of a 50 lbs blue


http://wn.com/50_lb_blue_catfish_on_the_james_river

[Allecto]

Neat find, I thought it was cool to see it.

[Stingrayg4]

I live in Oklahoma, which is pretty close to your area. I've seen plenty of local catfish of various species that would have been big enough to produce a skull that size or even bigger. As was mentioned above, channel cats, blue cats, and flathead cats all grow to be very large in this part of North America.

-S