The river's name means "House of Thunder" in the language of the Bari people.

Together with the nearby Escalante River, Catatumbo is a producing area for cocoa beans of the Criollo cultivar.

The "Relámpago del Catatumbo" or "Faros del Catatumbo" (Catatumbo lightning) is a phenomenon that occurs over the marshlands at the Lake Maracaibo mouth of the river, where lightning storms occur for about 10 hours a night, 140 to 160 nights a year, for a total of about 1.2 million lightning discharges per year.

The light from this storm activity can be seen up to 40 kilometres (25 mi) away and has been used for ship navigation; it is also known as the "Maracaibo Beacon" for this reason.

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