Evaluation of texture, sensory, and fillet color traits in channel catfish (<i>Ictalurus punctatus</i>), blue catfish (<i>Ictalurus furcatus</i>), and the hybrid catfish (channel catfish ♀ × blue catfish ♂)

Abstract Despite catfish being the dominant freshwater aquaculture product in the United States, catfish texture and sensory evaluation are understudied compared with other aquaculture species, and very few studies have been conducted to evaluate these traits in catfish. Texture, sensory, carcass yield, flavor, visceral fat deposition, gonadal development, and fillet color analyses were conducted on four size classes, small (&lt;0.68 kg), medium (0.68–0.92 kg), large (0.93–1.75 kg), and extra‐large (&gt;1.75 kg), for channel catfish ( n = 456) ( Ictalurus punctatus ), blue catfish ( n = 78) ( I. furcatus ), and hybrid catfish ( n = 195) (channel catfish ♀ × blue catfish ♂). Within genetic type comparisons indicated that the texture traits, hardness, and chewiness and the sensory trait toughness increased with increasing size in hybrid catfish and channel catfish but were the most pronounced in channel catfish. Overall, channel catfish had the firmest fillets based on several attributes. Blue catfish were found to have differences among texture traits between the extra‐large size class and the three remaining size classes, but overall size had less of an effect compared with the channel catfish and hybrid catfish. A trend of paternal predominance was observed as the hybrid catfish was more similar to the blue catfish than the channel catfish. Hybrid catfish had the highest fillet percentage. This study is the first large‐scale analysis of texture and sensory traits within two catfish species and their interspecific hybrid at different sizes and highlights the differences in commercially important texture and sensory traits.