06-30-2013, 11:24 PM
[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]Without a proper autopsy there is nothing conclusive to prove it died of old age.
I suspect that it died of a combination of age and spawning stress. The big cutts have just finished spawning. And if it was otherwise healthy it would not get skinny before dieing. Also, most fish float after dieing. The gases of decomposition and the air bladder both make the fish float...at least for a time.
There is also the possibility that it was deep-hooked and broke free...but was mortally wounded by a big ol' treble hook. Or even caught and released after rough handling.
Call in the CFI...Cutt Floater Investigators.
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Agreed...not that I'm a fish biologist but when a fish dies under water and the body eventually makes its way to the surface after a period of time one will see it being dark meaning death of body tissue aka necrosis. We've seen this on large fish primarily the fish we go after they died below surface and had been below surface for a little period of time. A fish that dies and on the surface or close to the surface and doesn't sink won't have this dark necrosis look to it.
Again like you stated unless a fish biologist looks at the fish its hard to say...based on the pic I didn't see any dark colored tissue but with it on shore who knows covered in dirt really hard to say...but based on what we've seen and including what we've read a fish with dark tissue died under water and eventually rose to the surface.
Not all fish that die will immediately sink to the bottom never to be seen again nor are they skinny...fish that are skinny and die again based on our research died due to some other reason...lure lodged or interal blockage or whatever....Eventually if the body of water is large enough a dead fish will sink. What we have read and researched on fish we've seen with blackened and dark color fish floating on the water surface died below the surface and eventually came back up to the surface...This fish I highly doubt died from old age...FWIW...[
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I suspect that it died of a combination of age and spawning stress. The big cutts have just finished spawning. And if it was otherwise healthy it would not get skinny before dieing. Also, most fish float after dieing. The gases of decomposition and the air bladder both make the fish float...at least for a time.
There is also the possibility that it was deep-hooked and broke free...but was mortally wounded by a big ol' treble hook. Or even caught and released after rough handling.
Call in the CFI...Cutt Floater Investigators.
[/#0000ff][/quote]
Agreed...not that I'm a fish biologist but when a fish dies under water and the body eventually makes its way to the surface after a period of time one will see it being dark meaning death of body tissue aka necrosis. We've seen this on large fish primarily the fish we go after they died below surface and had been below surface for a little period of time. A fish that dies and on the surface or close to the surface and doesn't sink won't have this dark necrosis look to it.
Again like you stated unless a fish biologist looks at the fish its hard to say...based on the pic I didn't see any dark colored tissue but with it on shore who knows covered in dirt really hard to say...but based on what we've seen and including what we've read a fish with dark tissue died under water and eventually rose to the surface.
Not all fish that die will immediately sink to the bottom never to be seen again nor are they skinny...fish that are skinny and die again based on our research died due to some other reason...lure lodged or interal blockage or whatever....Eventually if the body of water is large enough a dead fish will sink. What we have read and researched on fish we've seen with blackened and dark color fish floating on the water surface died below the surface and eventually came back up to the surface...This fish I highly doubt died from old age...FWIW...[
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