Do catfish menstruate?
The notion that a catfish could menstruate is preposterous and flys in the face of basic biology. Only primates (humans, apes, and monkeys) are set up biologically for a reproduction strategy that involves menstruation. Primate reproductive strategy runs from month to month and involves internal fertilization. That means that the male actually releases sperm into the female’s body. If a female primate’s eggs do not become fertilized within a specific time period, she sheds the blood and mucosal tissue from the uterus and the cycle begins again. Catfishes do not even have a uterus! In most catfish species, the female becomes gravid (i.e. fills up with eggs) on an annual cycle that, especially in the tropics, is associated with the onset of the rainy season. Most catfish females then find a mate and expel their eggs (there can thousands of eggs depending on the species). The male then swims over the eggs and releases sperm to fertilize them. There are a number of very interesting excepti
