If You Are Creeped Out Easily by Pictures of Bugs or Grubs or Other Stuff Like That, Don’t Read All of This Post

Bill and the kids went fishing yesterday and the day before.  It’s been raining for days, sometimes heavy, sometimes just a thick mist.  Whatever the style of precipitation, it hasn’t been painting weather. 

Anyway, they fished for skipjacks, which is the local term for baby bluefish.  They’re fun to fish for because though they’re small, they fight just as hard as the bigger blues when hooked.  Lots of fun to reel in.

On Monday, they brought home 5 fish, which made for a nice little nibble for each of us along with the rest of dinner. 

Bill filleted them and broiled them with Eel sauce (the sweet, dark sauce usually served on eel in sushi restaurants).

Yesterday they tried again, only in a different spot, and came home with fifteen.  

(Successful fishing has a very nice, bonding effect on my kids, apparently.  They don’t usually hug this much.)

They could have had twenty fish, but a VERY determined seagull wouldn’t leave them alone. 

In desperation, Bill tossed three of the smallest skipjacks to the bird, and he gulped them down and continued to hang around, expecting more.  Two other fish got off the line because Bill was too busy waving the bird away from the fish that had already been put on the stringer.  It made for an exciting day.

Anyway, that’s not the creepy part.

The creepy part is what Bill found in a couple of the gills.

(This is the creepy part.)

(Ready?)

(Last chance to click away.)

It’s this:

Please pardon the ugly pan.  I use parchment paper when I bake cookies on it. 

This thing (I’m thinking it’s a sea louse) is roughly an inch long, maybe a tiny bit more, and Bill, who examined it more closely, said it was full of eggs.

Bill sees these things in the gills of baby bluefish, but never in the adults.  So we’re thinking it lays its eggs in the babies, and they live parasitically off the fish as they grow, and then when THOSE fish have babies, the mature parasites latch onto the babies and lay more eggs, and…you know…the whole circle of life thing.

Anyway, if any of you reading this know what this guy is, I’d love to know.  Is it a sea louse?  Or something else?

Thanks!

Comments

[Ruth Ann Ryan]

Gotta love these kids.
My Mom kept me locked out till she could see that my pockets were turned inside out. (I kept my snakes there) The boys in the neighborhood were afraid of me.
When my boys were small the other neighborhood moms weren't fond of me. EEEW Donnie's mom picks up preying mantis bugs. Get the picture.
Your family is great because there are no sissies allowed there!!
Well, I never outgrew the interest in yucky things.
I think your critter is an isopod. I don't know if a pdf file will link here but I'll give it a try.

http://www.idosi.org/wjfms/wjfms1%282%2909/10.pdf

[Jayne]

You rock! Thanks for the link - I think youre right about them being being isopods. How cool. :)

[judith]

My kids bonded through fishing too. It's a good thing and they love to fish together now that they are grown. That thing is creepy looking.... makes me think twice about bluefish sushi.

[Allison]

Whats with the partial feeds now in google reader? I don't dig it .

[Jayne]

Allison, I prefer the partial feeds. Sorry you dont dig it.