The pincer fish is a freshwater food fish, favored for its tender, flavorful flesh and lack of small intermuscular spines. Pincer fish grown in clean water are not dirty, and those grown in poor quality water are dirty. The magouste is considered to be the dirtiest species.

The pincer fish is native to the Mississippi River in the United States, mainly distributed in North America in the central basin of the United States, southern Canada and parts of the Atlantic coast, has now been introduced to the breeding of various countries.