Tapeworms invade the Great Lakes

[Spiel]

Tapeworms invade the Great Lakes

Agencies warn anglers of walleyes from Lake Huron

 

 

January 4, 2009

Will Elliott / buffalonews.com

 

 

Avoid slicing slabs of walleye for that sushi platter hereafter.

 

Researchers with Environment Canada have discovered the presence of Asian tapeworms in walleye taken from Lake Huron.

 

Asian tapeworms had been brought into the Great Lakes chain as early as the 1960s when Asian carp were released in Arkansas to remove vegetation growth in ponds. Carp eventually moved northward and began appearing in Great Lakes waters.

 

Until recent findings in Lake Huron walleye, this terrible tapeworm had not been a threat to Great Lakes waters. A 1993 U. S. Biological Survey comment noted: “The worm had never been found in bass [anywhere]. It has not been found in walleye in North America.”

 

A 1997 Utah Dept. of Agriculture and Food issued a policy statement on transporting fish that might carry this parasite, but not specific species were mentioned in that statement.

 

Then, anglers reported finding mushroom-headed or phallic-shaped worms in the flesh of fish caught in the Saginaw Baw area during outings for the past two warm-water seasons. Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources (MDNR) offices were closed for the holidays this past week, but officials there confirmed studies have been conducted on their presence in Lake Huron walleyes. Michigan studies confirmed that these tapeworms have been found in fish taken from inland water bodies as well as the Great Lakes in that state.

 

Sources noted that fish with these Asian tapeworms may be safe to eat when properly cooked, smoked, or pickled.

 

MDNR officials added, “It is a very bad idea to eat any freshwater fish raw or poorly cooked as fish parasites use fish-eating mammals and birds as hosts and it is not known if humans can also be hosts.”

 

Lake Erie Unit Leader Don Einhouse echoed the Michigan recommendations on possible tapeworm-bearing walleye or any other freshwater fish species. “It has been a continuing policy as long as I’ve been with the DEC to recommend thorough cooking of all fish species taken from area waters,” Einhouse said in general about this latest exotic invader.

 

Lake Huron flows directly into Lake Erie through the Detroit River, the same path zebra mussels, quagga mussels, and so many other exotic species took after being deposited at sites around the upper Great Lakes.

 

But to this point Lake Erie Unit personnel have seen no signs of this nasty parasite on walleye or any other species researched at the Dunkirk facility.

 

“We directly study about 100 walleye, examine about 1,000 in our spring surveys and make checks on another thousand during creel surveys,” Einhouse added, and none have shown signs of Asian tapeworms (bothriocephalus acheilognathi, for those into aquatic biology formalities).

 

This foreign invader has been numbered 168 among non-native aquatic species identified in the Great Lakes chain. Some have been injurious or detrimental to existing fish species, others have altered food chains and water conditions, but few have created the extent of visual horrors when anglers first begin seeing these tapeworms emerge from dead fish kept in a fish box or cooler.

 

Lake Huron fishermen report these worms begin emerging from all orifices of fish bodies. In larger fish such as carp, tapeworms can grow to lengths of 12 inches.

 

Fish can pass tapeworm eggs through their feces, which settle to the bottom of lakes, get eaten by zooplankton and eventually are consumed by fish at the top of that food chain. For an angler seeing these creatures for the first time, the viewing can be unsightly.

 

These worms are present mainly in the digestive tract. Michigan anglers have resorted to gutting the fish immediately after a catch and storing the viscera in separate plastic bags until they reach shore and can discard the tapeworm-bearing entrails on shore.

 

In Michigan and New York State, fish and fish parts can not be discarded in open waters. Environmental Conservation Officer Scott Marshall checked the state regulations for open waters of the Great Lakes.

 

Along with not discarding whole fish or renderings/parts of fish within 100 feet of a waterway, anglers aboard a vessel on any state waterway must discard all fish (whole or parts). In Michigan, regulations stipulate on land; in New York anglers must be 100 feet from a shoreline or use facilities at a fish cleaning station open at marinas and launch sites.

 

Asian tapeworms will not be a gastronomical glitch in 2009 and they may not start showing in area waters this coming year, but just the thought of their creepy, slimy presence on good-eating percids (walleye and perch) add yet another aquatic scare out there. Which one will be number 169?

[fishindevil]

Great more invaders !!!! more crap from europe & asia....why is all our invaders comming from those countries anyways ?????

[forrest]

Great more invaders !!!! more crap from europe & asia....why is all our invaders comming from those countries anyways ?????

 

They ate everything else

[hammercarp]

Great more invaders !!!! more crap from europe & asia....why is all our invaders comming from those countries anyways ?????

FD and F. Yup just like you. Oh and Europe and Asia are continents not countries.

Edited January 9, 2009 by hammercarp