For people who have spent any time at all around the Tennessee River, tall tales of “catfish as big as Volkswagens” are as common as fleas on a dog. The oft-told legend has it that man-eating catfish the size of small cars have been sighted near the base of area dams by maintenance divers (whose hair reportedly turned white from the shock of the sighting).

This press kit includes fun and interesting facts about catfish. If you can't find it here, e-mail or call Kathie Fulgham at 423-785-3007 in the Tennessee Aquarium public relations department.

Aquarium celebrates National Catfish Month this August What kind of catfish are you? Take our personality quiz Catch and release guidelines Catfish fun facts Catfish recipes Finny Fun with Catfish Gnome
All the images in the thumbnails below are available to download for use with articles about the Tennessee Aquarium only. Digital images are suitable for web use (72 dpi), newspaper reproduction(170 dpi), or for magazine and book use (300 dpi). Click on thumbnail to download a high-res image, suitable for print. For additional Aquarium images: http://www.tnaqua.org/Newsroom/Photo_library.asp
National Catfish Month logo	Blue Catfish: As catfish go, she’s not merely magnificent, she’s monumental. This fat cat is actually a blue catfish, found in the Tennessee Aquarium's Nickajack Lake exhibit, and weighs more than 90 pounds.	Barred sorubim: With its unusual markings, this barred sorubim is one of the most beautiful of the Tennessee Aquarium's catfish. The sorubim can be found in the Aquarium's Flooded Amazon exhibit.
"Big Blue" gets "face to fin" to Aquarium diver Carol Farmer in the Nickajack Lake exhibit.(photo credit Todd Stailey)	"Big Blue" is one of the most photographed fish at the Aquarium -- simply because of her size -- more than 90 pounds .(photo credit Todd Stailey)	Mirror-mirror on the wall -- Who is the loveliest catfish of all? (photo credit Todd Stailey)