# sea lice in blue fish at PLO



## nicefishman (Jun 26, 2007)

Went fishing at PLO from jetty, Caught some blues from 12 - 16. When I open the fish, every one of them has the whtie insect looking thing in their gill , Is this sea lice ? will they affect human being ?


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## EJ20 (Aug 12, 2008)

I think its a parasite i had them on my fish before. I dont think they do any harm but i'm not 100% sure.


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## supercast (May 17, 2006)

*sea lice*

oh no,no problem to human they are very good bait they are found in the sand on the beaches in the island they are call sand roaches


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## Brooksobx (Feb 10, 2008)

People call alot of things Sea Lice. When you swim in the ocean and come out itching, the fresh hatched crab larvae have gotten you, and these are refered to as sea lice. When you catch that striper that has just come in from the ocean and he's covered with those crawly, crabby things, these are refered to as sea lice. Now,for those sand roaches, I've never seen or heard of those before. You're not thinking of Sand Fleas are you?


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## Desperado (Mar 12, 2007)

I catch fish that sometimes have these things in the gills. 










Have seen those roachy lookin' things crawling in the sand at Sandy Point too. But didn't take a pic. They are different than sand fleas.


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## Brooksobx (Feb 10, 2008)

I've never seen one of those things before, but I'd have to say it sure looks like a roach to me. Maybe they don't come this far South. Has anybody seen these sand roaches in Va. or the Carolinas?


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## stonemason (Aug 4, 2006)

here are 2 links on the subject.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/recreational/articles/sealice.html

and those roach lookin things..

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishingreport/fishingrptArchive/frarchives2007/121207index.asp


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## bloodworm (Jan 5, 2007)

nicefishman said:


> Went fishing at PLO from jetty, Caught some blues from 12 - 16. When I open the fish, every one of them has the whtie insect looking thing in their gill , Is this sea lice ? will they affect human being ?


No I've seen sea lice on rockfish and it is on the body around the scales. Sea lice are not from the bay. I have caught white perch with these roaches in their gill I just took it off I thought it was harmful.


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## Dr. Bubba (Nov 9, 1999)

I encountered what Desparado posted in a bluefish I caught last week. It's an isopod.


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## Andre (Mar 15, 2003)

Desperado

That's a nice shot !!!!!!!!!


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## nicefishman (Jun 26, 2007)

*Desperado*

That's exactly what I saw in the gill of the blue fish I caught from PLO. We got totaly 13 blue from 12 to 16 inch. AND all of them have this THING in their gill. Decide not eat them but save them for cut bait.


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## supercast (May 17, 2006)

*lice vs roach*

People in diff. countries call things by their own local names I was't saying sea lice was wrong all I am saying in some parts of the island they call them roaches may be because they look alike


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## superdodgeball (Sep 9, 2008)

Desperado said:


> I catch fish that sometimes have these things in the gills.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Man they look like horshoe crab babies...


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## stonemason (Aug 4, 2006)

^but they're not.


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## superdodgeball (Sep 9, 2008)

That stuff look nasty!!! Man, wonder if you can eat that fish after cleaning it out...


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## superdodgeball (Sep 9, 2008)

Maybe those things are crunch.... Gotta send Zimmerman, Bear Grilliis or the survivorman there before I try though... LOL


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## noypi (Aug 28, 2008)

the fish with those parasites taste the same. yum!


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## FshRMan (Nov 4, 2007)

My first post. I believe Dr. Bubba is right. It is called a Fish Gill Isopod. If you google "Fish Gill Isopod" and select the link "Life in the Chesapeake Bay", the description and picture closely resemble your pic.


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## Desperado (Mar 12, 2007)

*Clarification*

Correct. The things in the gills are isopods. I suspected that's what nicefishman was trying to describe. So I posted the pic. 

supercast then referred to "sand roaches". I had not heard of "sand roaches" before, but recently had seen a completely different bug crawling in the sand at Sandy Point. It looked kind of "roachy" so I thought maybe that's what he was referring to. I didn't bother to take a pic. After doing a little research, I'm guessing the bugs I saw crawling in the sand was yet another type of isopod. About 1 to 2 inches long, 2 long atennae & lots of legs. Looked like good bait maybe, but a creepy, crawly, critter for sure :--|


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## nicefishman (Jun 26, 2007)

Is this got something to do with the pollution in the bay ? I only found them in few of my catch last year. Hopefully this is just a isolated case.


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## superdodgeball (Sep 9, 2008)

ARe those the FAST crawlers that you see running away from you on the ROCKS when you fish on the Causeway rocks?


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## earl of DC (Jul 7, 2007)

it must be a PLO thing cause i have yet to see them on the blues ive caught at
Coke & Breezy Pt.!!!


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## CrappieKid (Jan 21, 2008)

Hey guys, Yes they are sea lice and unless you are fishing the coke or peek you probally will not see them. The bluefish bring them in the bay fresh out of the ocean. The futher up the bay they get the lice die off.

Good Catch


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## Pho Real? (May 3, 2008)

yup i went to plo before and got the same thing, But only in one of the blues we caught. I left the rod there and guess there was a blue but it got weak, and i thought those sea lice thingys attached to it because they knew it was dieing. 

Guess not if all of urs had em, they were small not big as in that pic. Small kinda brown and white. had 2 little black eyes diamond shaped. And just looked nasty.


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## Lipyourown (May 11, 2005)

I call those things pictured above isopods and a smaller creature "sea lice" seen on the big stripers in the spring, rolly polly looking things.

The sea lice we see in the spring fall right off the fish once landed, many sea lice on each fish.


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## rhytid (Oct 31, 2004)

I caught some blue fish in the upper bay (North of Patapsco) this past Sunday and some of them had the gill isopods. So it seems that they blues are coming up pretty far north after coming in from the ocean.

<HAN>


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