If you fish upper Charlotte Harbor around the Myakka Cut Off to the bridge over the Myakka River at El Jobean, FL, you'll find the following links, tide charts and fishing reports most helpful.
Parasite in Menhaden
For any of you that read my blog Fishing Myakka River/Charlotte Harbor, Florida you know I've found a steady supply of menhaden which I usually net the day before fishing (I go by truck, not by boat) and keep in a bait pen and then transfer to my live well the morning of the fishing trip. Well lately I've noticed I've been losing more bait than normal overnight and just recently, after putting a couple dozen in my live well at 4:00 PM, I found that all had died by morning, very unusual. So I ran back down to the canal and in two casts I had another 3 dozen in 2 buckets with bubblers with brand new batteries. By the time I got back home (4 minutes) I'd lost about 6 bait. As I pulled the dead out of the live well I looked a little closer at them. They're mouths hung open wide and had signs of being raw or irritated as if they had been banging against the side of the bucket. But it seemed hard to believe this kind of damage could be done in such a short time.
Then this odd looking thing poked out of the menhaden's gaping mouth. A little shrimp looking thing about 3/8 to 1/2 inch long by about 1/8 wide with a kind of flat head. It was a little startling so I tossed the bait overboard. But the menhaden kept dying at a very unusual rate which made me more curious and on closer inspection I found every one that died had this bug in it's mouth. Of course by then I was fishing and wasn't about to use up too much of my fishing time peering down a bait fishes mouth so I let it go as something they ate.
But the next day my neighbor mentioned the same experience with her bait which she gets from the same location. And she also noticed the bloody mouth and the difficulty in keeping them alive. I headed to Google and started doing a little research. Sure enough I found mention of this bug thing on several websites, but nothing extremely detailed. I could not find a name and all mentions said this parasite was not harmful to the fish, which I disagree with. And no photos at all. I wanted to know more.
I was in contact with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission back in June when there was a fish kill in our canal. They were very helpful and I'd kept the email of the biologist that had been in touch with me throughout the event. So I sent an email explaining what I'd found and asking only for a name of this thing so I could do a little more research. Following is an excerpt from her reply:
". . .is actually one of the most commonly observed parasites in Florida waters. It's Olencira praegustator and is an isopod, a type of crustacean, some of which can be parasitic. According to my colleague, this particular isopod's effects on its host is a matter of some debate among experts. These isopods begin their lives as free swimming juveniles, become males, and then transform into females. The adult female of O. praegustator is the only life history stage of this species that occupies the mouth of menhaden. The adult female may not feed during portions of her reproductive cycle or at all. This fact has led some researchers to consider her not harmful; however, there is plenty of disagreement on the subject."
|
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Fish Kill Hotline at 800-636-0511 or visit our website's Fish Kill Reports.
|
I have to disagree with those that claim O. praegustator has no ill affects on its host. But I don't have the credentials to be taken too seriously, I suppose there could be other reasons for the sudden change in longevity of our bait. But I doubt it. In any case, I'm glad to get some photos and the real name of Olencira praegustator on the internet for anyone else that might be shocked and curious upon discovering this little alien creature poking out of a poor dead menhaden's mouth.
|
|
|
