The study describes the divergence trends in the partial segment cytochrome b gene (cyt. b) in six catfish species on the basis of the nucleotide substitutions and their location in the triplet codons of the resulting amino acid sequence. The nucleotide sequences of all six species were found A+T rich with average nucleotide frequencies as A: 28.6%; T: 29.3%; G: 13.6%; C: 28.5%, showing an antiguanine bias which was found strongest in R. rita. The transition substitution rate was found highest at 3rd codon position in all the species. The evolutionary divergence follows the trend as highest at 3rd codon position followed by 1st codon position and the least on 2 nd codon position among all species. When amino acid sequences of cytochrome b were aligned, only 12 sites were found with a total 29 amino acid substitutions. which is a resultant of the substitution trend of three codon positions. Majority of the amino acid substitutions were found synonymous and conservative. Three different variability trends are observed in the cyt. b gene which run simultaneously on three different codon positions of triplet codons. Nucleotide substitutions at three codon positions follows the order 3 rd (87) >1st (32) >2nd (03) the frequency of amino acid substitution follows the order 1 st (11) >3rd (04) >2 nd (02); and the frequency of non-conservative amino acid changes found as 2 nd (1:2) >1st (5:11) >3rd (1:4). The study has provided an in-depth understanding of the relative variability and substitution trends in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene in catfish species at both DNA and protein level.