In 2021, an estimated 307 million pounds of live catfish were produced in the US, primarily in the south. Catfish make up over 50% of the US demand for farm-raised fish.
Although consumers may be uncomfortable with the idea of their catfish sharing DNA with an alligator, Rex Dunham and Baofeng Su, two of the lead researchers of the study, told MTR that the hybrid meat would be perfectly safe.
“I would eat it in a heartbeat,” Dunham told MTR.
