Post by dighty on Sept 12, 2006 20:40:34 GMT
Colin,
I did some work on endoparasites of sea trout from various locations around Scotland as an undergraduate - was a long time ago, sample sizes were pretty small and to be honest I'm not proud!!!
Amongst lots of other beasts, I came across Anisakis on a number of seatrout livers but always in small numbers - I think its pretty much endemic (at least in temperate waters worldwide), natural and normal and is commonly found in a large number of marine fish species. The beasts I found were like coiled springs and were encysted on the outside of the liver. The fish become infected by eating infected crustaceans and from memory the next stage in the lifecycle (after fish) is a marine mammal. I'd never heard of it causing severe trauma to a fish like you suggest but I can say its very common and widely distributed.
I did some work on endoparasites of sea trout from various locations around Scotland as an undergraduate - was a long time ago, sample sizes were pretty small and to be honest I'm not proud!!!
Amongst lots of other beasts, I came across Anisakis on a number of seatrout livers but always in small numbers - I think its pretty much endemic (at least in temperate waters worldwide), natural and normal and is commonly found in a large number of marine fish species. The beasts I found were like coiled springs and were encysted on the outside of the liver. The fish become infected by eating infected crustaceans and from memory the next stage in the lifecycle (after fish) is a marine mammal. I'd never heard of it causing severe trauma to a fish like you suggest but I can say its very common and widely distributed.