Bass parisite or what?

[BigPoppy]

Went to a local pond here in Glasgow, an older lady we know who has no family close was wanting some fresh fish and me being the nice guy, felt I should make the great sacrifice oh hon do I have to,( lets see both poles are in the car, bait and cold drinks in cooler, lawn chair, radio, sandwhiches, yep thats about it) I really do need to trim the front hedge, but if you insist I will go try and catch one. any way I caught a couple of nice blue gill and a couple of good 18 inch bass but when I went to clean them for her I found three small yellow worm like parisites going into the fish at the dorsal fins, they were only on the bass I checked the blue gill very closely even used a magnifying glass just to be sure as a precaution I ask her not to eat the bass and let me find out if I coud, what these things are, I had heard of folks picking up tape worms up north from eating under cooked trout and I sure did not want a 70 year old woman sick because of my ignorance. so anyone got a clue to what these things are and if they can spread form pond to pond. can they make the meat dngerous for human consumption.

Dennis

[pastorbass]

A guy who lets me fish his pond was wanting some of the smaller bass cleaned out, I caught some then cleaned them and the meat was full of black specks which appreared to be some type of parasite. I've heard of other's with the worms you are talking about. I was watching the annual KY Afield Q&A show a while back and the claim those things are harmless to the meet. I'll pass on those.

[fish24/7]

Cooking the meat completely thru will kill any parasites. Most parasites transferred to humans is thru undercooked meat. If I saw the parasites on the fish it makes it hard to eat knowing they were there even if the fish is cooked. This is why it is not good to transfer fish from different bodies of water. This can spread the parasites and even disease to a new body of water that was clean. Just be careful when preparing the food and cook it all the way thru.

[RoadToad]

Went to a local pond here in Glasgow, an older lady we know who has no family close was wanting some fresh fish and me being the nice guy, felt I should make the great sacrifice oh hon do I have to,( lets see both poles are in the car, bait and cold drinks in cooler, lawn chair, radio, sandwhiches, yep thats about it) I really do need to trim the front hedge, but if you insist I will go try and catch one. any way I caught a couple of nice blue gill and a couple of good 18 inch bass but when I went to clean them for her I found three small yellow worm like parisites going into the fish at the dorsal fins, they were only on the bass I checked the blue gill very closely even used a magnifying glass just to be sure as a precaution I ask her not to eat the bass and let me find out if I coud, what these things are, I had heard of folks picking up tape worms up north from eating under cooked trout and I sure did not want a 70 year old woman sick because of my ignorance. so anyone got a clue to what these things are and if they can spread form pond to pond. can they make the meat dngerous for human consumption.

Dennis

I found this at the following web site:

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/pages/qa/fish/worms.htm

and I think it answers the question on yellow grubs in bass. Basically, they're ugly, but the fish is still safe to eat, provided it's thoroughly cooked:

Two distinct parasites are typically observed by anglers in fish muscle. One is a small yellowish worm or grub, the other is a blackish spot.

Yellow grub

Your description suggests you observed encysted metacercariae larval stage of the yellow grub (Clinostomum) parasite. The encysted, yellow to yellowish white worm can be up to 1/4 inch in length. It can be found in virtually all species of North American freshwater fish.

The yellow grub is a digenetic trematode. These types of parasites require several hosts to complete their life cycles. In the case of the yellow grub, the adult parasite is found in the throats of fish eating birds, such as herons. During the feeding process, eggs produced by the adults are washed out of the bird's mouth and into the water. There they hatch, yielding a free swimming larval stage (miracidia) that will die within several hours if it does not find and infect a snail of the genus Helisoma. After further development within the snail, a free swimming cercaria leaves the snail and seeks a fish host. The cercariae burrow through the skin of the fish and encyst, where they develop into the metacercariae. These yellow grubs may live several years in the fish. If the fish is eaten by the bird host the larval metacercariae will develop into adult parasites, completing the life cycle.

Infestations by a few individuals likely cause little harm to fish, however, under certain circumstances, heavy infestations can kill fish. Yellow grubs are described as unsightly by fishermen. A related species occurring in Asia has been found to infect the upper respiratory tract of humans. Thorough cooking kills the North American yellow grub and the parasite does not alter the flavor or the infected fish; however, fish with heavy infestations are typically not eaten by anglers.

Infestation is somewhat greater for fish caught in shallow water where snails and fish eating birds are most prevalent. Fish caught from deep water typically exhibit less infestation. Like many biological phenomenon, prevalence of the grub may be greater in some years and less in others for a variety of reasons including an abundance of intermediate host mollusks and birds.

Black spots

Black spot disease is commonly observed in rock bass and other sunfish, bass, pike, perch, minnows, and other fish species. It can be identified by the presence of small black spots, usually about the size of a pin head, in the skin, the fins, the musculature, and the mouth of the fish. The black spots are caused by pigment that the fish deposits around the larval stage of a parasitic digenetic trematode, usually a Neascus spp.

The lifecycle of the "black spot" parasite is complex. The adult parasite is found in a fish eating bird, the kingfisher. The larval parasite is transferred from the infected fish to the bird during the feeding process. In the kingfisher, the larval stage develops into an adult parasite. The adult parasite in the intestine of the bird produces eggs that are eventually deposited in the water. There the eggs mature, hatch, and develop into the miracidium stage of the parasite. The miracidium infects a snail. In the snail, the miracidium develops into the cercaria life stage. The cercaria leaves the snail and actively penetrates a host fish. In the fish, the parasite becomes encysted. In about 22 days, black spots form around the cyst. This entire lifecycle takes at least 112 days to complete.

In general, the presence of the "black spot" parasite does not affect the growth or the longevity of the infected fish; however massive infections in young fish may cause fish mortality. The parasite is incapable of infecting humans and, as is the case with all fish parasites, it is destroyed by thorough cooking. When fish are heavily infected, some anglers prefer to remove the skin to improve the appearance of the cooked fish.

[BigPoppy]

Wow now that is one great answer man why don't you take over Barren River we need a lake manager down here, lol! I myself don't eat fish I just love catching the critters or trying to anyway but I do end up doing the cleaning and preping and cooking about 80% of the time, bad part about having a chef for a father I could cook and carve meat before I could ride a bike. But if I did wether or not the book says those little yellow thing won't hurt you no way in h=== is it going in my mouth! but this is a guy who picks out that little rooster bullit from his eggs in the morning lol.

Dennis

[RoadToad]

Wow now that is one great answer man why don't you take over Barren River we need a lake manager down here, lol!

Thanks, nice of you to say that, but the only skill it took on my part was copy/paste

[the_donger]

Maybe the skill he was talking about was patience and the drive to actually do the research needed to make the post. I know I do not always have that degree of drive and skip a post over that I know someone else will answer. So, thanks for your post, it was a top notch answer.

[trentonc2000]

they say if you cook them very well, the parasites won't harm you. screw that, i'm not eating it.