What's In a Name?
Tadpole madtom: "madtom" refers to this little catfish's habit of sticking people's fingers with their poisonous spines; "tadpole" refers to their bodies looking like a tadpole

Noturus (no-tour´-us) means "back tail" in Greek, referring to the long strip of skin on the back that connects the adipose fin (the fin on the back without fin rays) to the tail fin
gyrinus (jie-wren´-us) means tadpole

How Big Do They Get?
How Long Do They Live?
This small fish grows to a maximum length of about 115 mm (4.5 in) and a weight of about 17 g (0.5 oz). The usual life span is 2 years, but very rarely one lives for 3 years.

What Eats Them?
Many sport fishes, including walleyes, largemouth bass, and large bluegills eat them, especially in lakes. Because of their small size, humans do not eat them.

How Do They Reproduce?
Because tadpole madtoms are so secretive, there is little known about their spawning habits. We believe they spawn in June and July in Minnesota. They do not build a nest. Instead they lay their eggs under submerged objects, like logs, rocks, plant roots, pop cans, etc. Sometimes they use old crayfish burrows. The female lays small numbers of eggs at one time and spawns repeatedly over several weeks. One parent, most likely the male, guards the developing eggs until the young hatch. Females produce clutches (batches of eggs ready at one time) of 80-180 eggs, but we do not know how many clutches they produce in a season. Like all catfish species in Minnesota, tadpole madtoms look like miniature adults by the time they absorb all their yolk.

Conservation and Management
Tadpole madtoms are the most widespread and abundant madtom in Minnesota. They have no special conservation status. Some anglers use them as bait for largemouth bass or walleye early in the fishing season, but they are not used much commercially.