My Mom caught a catfish in Galveston Bay.swung it around for me to unhook it and that barb on the side of it’s head went all the way through my left hand. That salt water made it sting! I hate catfish.
"Gafftopsail catfish (often called "sail cats" or "gafftop") have highly venomous, sharp spines on their top (dorsal) fin and side (pectoral) fins. The spines are coated with a toxic, snot-like mucus that can cause intense pain, swelling, and potential infection if they puncture the skin.
Key Facts on Sail Cat Venom: Location: The venom is located on the serrated, stiff spines of the dorsal and pectoral fins".
My father told me about this when I was about 8 and we would go to the different bays to fish for redfish/specs. He actually got finned by one unhooking it. He was tough as hell. WW2 at 16, because he got tired of working on a share croppers farm. He got so sick he had to get out on an island to lay down in the shade. I was very worried thinking if he was unconscious, I would not know where to go. This was in the early 1960's and we only had a flat bottom sears 16' with 25 hp outboard. I did not pay attention to where we were going. I kept checking on him every 20 minutes or so and after about 2 hours he got up and was ok. I think it was Oyster Bay.
