REPOST - External worms on YP (pics/vid)...

[deerme]

My post was mistakenly deleted - here's a repost...

well i was fishing yesterday afternoon - mostly jigging - and catching perch left and right.  i usually unhook them and throw 'em right on the ice w/out paying much attention, but today i saw something move, well slide is more like it, down the belly of the perchie.  i took a close look and it wasn't just sliding, but wiggling too!  the next 15 or so i caught i took a REAL good look at.  i only found one more w/ the same "symptoms".  i took some pics and a video.









here's the video....full screen it!  http://www.vimeo.com/3374050

have you guys ever seen external, MOVING worms on fish in the winter time?!?!?! 

[rgfixit]

My Bad...sorry.
RG :embarassed:

[bigredonice]

I found them on some perch I caught this weekend, I see them pretty commonly on pectoral fins of bluegills when they are schooled up densely.

I was always under the assumption that they are some sort of parasitic flatworm (platyhelminthes)

[JJ]

Look like fish leeches to me, genus Piscicola; I have seen them on yellow perch before:

[Lobes]

Very interesting. I never even knew they existed.

                         
NBG

[rgfixit]

You beat me to it JJ. That was my conclusion after perusing the various parasites I was familiar with.

RG

[brokenline]

that looks tasty

[bogeyjoker]

Sure looks like a blood worm to me...  I couldn't tell for sure from the pics.  But on a local lake here the perch gorge themselves on these.  Every perch you pull from the depths is either puking bloodworms or scuds up.  The bloodworms will creep and crawl like this one did.

[JJ]

Bloodworms are midge larvae, they have segmented bodies. While you may see them in a perch's mouth, they would not be attached to the body of a perch.

[JJ]

You beat me to it JJ. That was my conclusion after perusing the various parasites I was familiar with.

RG

If you hadn't been so busy deleting posts. J/K.

[bogeyjoker]

Bloodworms are midge larvae, they have segmented bodies. While you may see them in a perch's mouth, they would not be attached to the body of a perch.

I'm aware bloodworms are midge larvae, It didn't appear to me from watching the video that it was attached to the perch...it just looked like it was crawling on the perch....I've seen bloodworms crawling through the gill plates of a perch and looked just like this.

[rgfixit]

JJ...no contest
RG

[deerme]

hmmmm....i didn't think they resembled a bloodworm w/ the segmented body and a head/"tail".  you couldn't tell head from tail w/ these and they didn't have segments or anything coming out of them (legs, head, whatever).  granted i didn't have any magnification when i looked at them....

[ex-pug]

I have no idea what they are, but a few of those on the end of a jig will catch you more perch

[deerme]

I have no idea what they are, but a few of those on the end of a jig will catch you more perch

hahaha!! i think i'll stick w/ maggots :-P

[nunzio]

Don't know what they are either but have seen them on Perch and Sauger from Lake of the Woods.