 Ranging from the lower Great Lakes region to northern Mexico, it has been widely introduced and is an invasive species in some areas.The closest living relative of the flathead catfish is the much smaller widemouth blindcat, "Satan eurystomus".The flathead catfish is also known as the yellow cat, mud cat, Johnnie cat, "goujon", "appaluchion", "opelousas", pied cat and Mississippi cat.