Parasite?

[Frank O]

So what's the fashion accessory above this flatfish's eye? Parasite?

(From Redondo Underwater Canyon, Southern Calif, 9/22/05, depth ~80 ft)

 

[justleesa]

I don't know what it is, but what a cool pic!

 

[Panic]

So what's the fashion accessory above this flatfish's eye? Parasite?

(From Redondo Underwater Canyon, Southern Calif, 9/22/05, depth ~80 ft)

That's not a fishing lure, is it?

 

[Diver0001]

So what's the fashion accessory above this flatfish's eye? Parasite?

(From Redondo Underwater Canyon, Southern Calif, 9/22/05, depth ~80 ft)

Well, that fish looks like a sole to me. The thing borrowing into it's eye is clearly a parasite and it looks like a type of sea louse to me.

Probably if you do a google search on "sole parasite" or "flounder parasite" it will turn up something.

It wouldn't surprise me if this sole was found in the vicinity of a salmon farm. Salmon farms seem to generate large populations of sea lice and in areas with large concentrations of salmon farms the ecology of lice populations can be significantly altered.

It's an excellent picture BTW. If you took this you should contact universities in your area incase they could use this.

R..

 

[Gidds]

That does look suspiciously like a fishing lure. My next best guess is an amphipod but they are more interested in shark eyes to the best of my knwledge. Try: http://www.fishdisease.net
The guy who runs the page is one of the top in our field and if you send him the pic he may be able to tell you what it is. It does look a bit like Lernia too.

 

[Panic]

That does look suspiciously like a fishing lure. My next best guess is an amphipod but they are more interested in shark eyes to the best of my knwledge. Try: http://www.fishdisease.net
The guy who runs the page is one of the top in our field and if you send him the pic he may be able to tell you what it is. It does look a bit like Lernia too.

Just found a pic of a lernia (anchor worm) on http://www.koicarp.net/koi_medication/parasites2.html and that looks like it might be it. In your picture, it's just amazing how "perfect" it looks. That just made me lean towards a fishing lure. Unless they make lernia fishing lures, it is probably a lernia.

 

[Frank O]

I just got a reply from Leslie Harris of the L.A. County Museum of Natural History, who says it's been pegged as Phrixocephalus cincinnatus. This is a a blood-feeding copepod that's known to inhabit the choroid of the eye of the Pacific sanddab in Santa Monica Bay (which encompasses the site where I found this fish).

Leslie also pointed out a number of other copepods dotting the surface of the fish. This is one critter that definitely needs a weekend at a health spa!

 

[archman]

The long protuberance are attached eggs. This is a common feature of many ectoparasitic copepods. Hmm... never seen one on a flounder, however. Yuk, and it's on the eye.

Those LA County Museum folks are amazing. Gordon Hendler helps me with starfish.

 

[Frank O]

Thanks all for the replies.

On another note -- sanddab? sole? flounder? If you think it's definitely one of these, what's the distinguishing feature that pegs it for you?

I'm not very good on my flatfish ....

 

[Diver0001]

The yellow dots on the anal fin made me think it was a sole. That and the general body shape. The sole in Dutch costal waters have many of these yellow dots.

Having said that, I'm not an expert and I find it difficult on the whole to tell the differnece between a flounder and a sole.

Click on the picture below. I found this on a Dutch website and it's as good a reference as I've been able to find.

From the lower left in clockwise order:

- turbot
- sole
- flounder
- brill

The Dutch don't have a world for Sanddab. They use the same word for Flounder.

Looking at the sole and the flounder in this picture you'll see that the rays in the fins of the flounder are more robust than they are on the sole. This might be a good way to tell them apart. In that case your picture was probably a founder then...

R..