Ocean Facts

Description

Blue catfish are supposed to be, well, blue, but Katie Purvis Johns of Denham Springs, Louisiana, landed a rare all-white blue catfish at the Bonnet Carré Spillway April 24, near New Orleans.She had to battle the blue catfish carefully because the spillway has concrete structures in the water that the fish easily could have wrapped the line around and broken free. She worked the fish close to shore, knowing it was a large blue catfish. So she was more than surprised when the fish turned out to be all-white. They weighed the fish at 19 pounds, and it measured 35 inches long. They were all puzzled about its white color, and believed it was an albino fish. But the cat didn't have pink eyes, so they contacted the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. "We found out it is an all-white, leucistic blue catfish," Johns said. "Which is a pretty rare catch."