3 replies to this topic

[mattknepley]

This little lmb chomped on a little spinner I was throwing in Stevens Creek, SC.

 DSCN0197.JPG   207.45KB   1 downloads

As you can see, it is completely hooked in the mouth, no accidental snagging or foul hooking. When I brought it to hand I saw some bleeding from one of the gills. But given it's a fish, with a slime coat and a sheen of water; it was hardly traumatic like they often appear. I didn't want to add injury to the insult of being caught, so I didn't inspect closely; but I did see that the outer-most gill arch in the wounded gill was cleanly, completely severed at the bottom end. Shouldn't it be completely, cleanly attached, instead? Otherwise, it looked perfectly healthy. This is not where the bleeding, which appeared to have stopped, was coming from.

If I'm correct in my assumption that gill arches are supposed to be attached at both ends, would you think this more likely to be the result of an injury or a mutation? Either way, I've always thought gill wounds were death sentences for fish. That a fish almost always bled to death from one. Is this not the case? This lmb looked and acted normal.

[gerald]

My guess is that the hook broke the gill arch, possibly when you jerked the line to set it.  He probably inhaled the spinner farther down his throat initially than the point where it finally hooked and stayed.  I dont know if a broken arch can reattach (I doubt it) but it can probably heal over and he may survive OK on the remaining arches.

[Cu455]

If it was bleeding you probably snagged it with the hook. Fish are pretty tough. My few years ago my LFS had a grouper which was missing it's gill cover. A few months ago the person who bought it brought it back because it out gre their tank.

[mattknepley]

Thanks, guys. I probably wasn't giving him enough credit for being able to vacuum prey in. That's a pretty cool video, too.

So- gill flap, gill arch, and I'm assuming gill raker damage is not necessarily terminal. How about damage to the gill filaments? I'm curious, because I'd hate to "euthanize" any other gill hooked if there is a reasonable hope for their survival. (This guy actually looked and acted so fine that I released it. Since he was an lmb with a size limit, I would've had to anyway.) I don't usually have many, but there's always one somewhere along the line. No pun intended.