Parasites on Catfish at The Bear River?

[KylerNielsen]

Just got back from a night fishing trip on The Bear River in Corrine and while I was there I caught this little guy. He had parasites on all of the fins. I've been cat fishing for pretty much all my life and have never seen nor heard of anything like this. Can anyone explain?
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Yup - seen 'em before. Can't find my pic, but seen em on the fins, and marks of them having sucked on a few spots -moving around some.

TD even chimed in. Not uncommon, and not a real problem for the kitty's. Just surface slugs sucking some juices - shouldn't have any impact on the kitty's edibility - if that's part of your concern.

The kitties muck about,and likely in that muck are slugs/leeches. So they get to share the joy.

[KylerNielsen]

Thanks for the info! He was just a little guy so he went back in the water. I was just concerned about the water and other fish being contaminated. But now that I know its not uncommon I'm not to worried [] Thanks again!
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[Jmaze]

Those are leeches. We don't have to many of the big black suckers.
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Ha - found it.

You can see signs where the suckers have moved around on the poor cat's fins. I'll bet they get their fair share of payback too though - cats are pretty opportunistic. Wonder if they ever clean the leaches off of one another.

Have heard of other parasites that infest some fish - like trout that have worms burrowing out their sides. Gather it's part of why they don't make for good Sushi fixins.

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[wormsinker]

Ya its pretty common for cats to get those, here in cache valley i catch a lot of cats that have or had those. Nothing to worry about.
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