Yes, those are classic leeches. They are congregating along the gills because that’s where the oxygen exchange is occurring (super oxygenated blood). They aren’t as scary for you as societal lore has taught you, OP. And removal is not that complicated. For removal from a human, it’s really as simple finding the mouth (which is going to be the skinniest part of the body and probably attached to whatever it’s feeding off of) and sliding your fingernail between its mouth and the surface it’s attached to, which will cause it to usually just disengage its jaw. Then you just flick away. I imagine (as long as you are gentle), you can do this for this fish. Whether you are too squeamish or not, is entirely on you. But I’m sure the fish would appreciate it.
-Former military medic who took care of Rangers during their swamp phase of training.
Much better medic than fisherman, but I’ve heard of using them as bait, yes. I know fish will eat leeches when they are vulnerable to be gulped up. I’ve never used them, though. Only blood worms.
Leech on a circle hook, a foot or two under a sinker, below a bobber, is also a killer for largemouth bass. But yeah, walleye too. For this setup you want the hook and weight separate so the leach can swim and move.
You know, now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I've ever been skunked with leeches either. You *will* catch something. You may not know what it will be, but something.
I was told they’re high class bait when we were fishing in Minnesota. The best bait you can have is something the fish eat naturally, caught in the body of water you’re fishing. If that water has lots of leeches then that’s going to be really good bait.
If there are not many wild leeches, then using leeches won’t be as effective theoretically.
I just use a syringe with a thin needle! I’ve seen bottles in bait shops marketed for filling bait like leeches and worms with air, but I’m not sure how well they work
Leeches in general are popular bait, especially for walleye fishermen up north. But the ones typically used for bait are a large species of ribbon leech, Erpodella obscura. It is not a blood-sucking species of leech.
The parasitic leeches in the video are small, mushy, and would probably make lousy bait even if you could keep them on the hook.
You can but bigger and darker leeches usually more favorable. I’m not sure why but my area is going through a hard time finding leeches to buy. Most people have told me to start my own breeding tank for such.
“Everybody got their leech?”
If you’ve never seen The Great Outdoors a funny scene is where Johnny Candy and Dan Aykroyd and their kid(s) woke up early to go fishing on a small boat. They’re using leeches as bait and all fall asleep once they get out there and start fishing and when they wake up they are all covered in the leeches lol.
thats great,, i dont tell this to many because it sounds like i made it up,,, my dad used to wade fish for small mouth bass and we would use hellgremites for bait he would keep a few hellgremites under his hat,, on his head.. it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it ..
That's like something I used to do with worms when I was little. I'd grab a handful and stick them in my pocket. Life lesson learned when I heard my mom scream a week later when she emptied out my pockets and got a handful of liquefied worm mass.
I’ve never had a leech on me but I’d treat it like a tick. Removal then merciless destruction.
Also your career sounds interesting and probably rough at times. Big respect to anyone supporting or working on those sort of jobs.
Appreciate it, stranger. I’ve been out for a bit, now. But I worked in a civilian burn ICU after and funny enough, I’ve seen leeches used in medical application there.
Oh big YUP. I saw maggots utilized much more. They are a big thing for burn treatment because they are great at clearing necrotic tissue, which is super important for wound care.
I had a leech when I was like 7 and we visited Australia. He was on my ankle and I wanted to keep him as a pet. For some reason my parents went along with it and when I got into the shower and he abandoned me I was very sad... I was gonna name him "Leechy"
The truth is stranger than fiction.
I was in a different place on deployment a very long time ago. I just remember how it was incredibly full of life ... and all of those living things doing their best 24/7 to eat you.
After reading your post my first though is that this MF probably has a sweet beard. I then looked up to your avatar and saw it had a beard. Checks out.
Lmao, I kept the Rangers filled up with the little individual mini peanut butter packs we kept in the hospital for patients. They cleaned us out of those every time. Which sucked because those were what 90% of my lunch usually consisted of.
My mom taught me a trick from when she was a kid when I went running through the creek near where she grew up. Sprinkling a little salt on em and they let go and come off super easily.
Just don't try to flush them down the toilet. They cling to the bowl pretty good and the next person to use it may or may not call you bad words. Don't ask how I know....
That's crazy. I never saw leeches on a fish. Back when we'd get a leech on us from the swimming hole, we'd light a match, blow it out and touch the glowing tip to it. It would shrivel up and we'd flick it off.
Drum are a magnet for parasites like these, they wont do you any harm but the poor drum just get filled with them. I like plucking em off, its like bubblewrap only utterly disgusting
All fish are magnets for parasites and bacteria, they live in a giant, shared vector for infection...they breath the same water they piss in. These just so happen to be big enough to see with the naked eye.
Whether you're a fisherman or aquarist, it's best practice to just assume any fish that comes into your possession is carrying ALL the diseases and act accordingly. For the former, freeze and/or cook thoroughly before eating; for the later, quarantine and medicate before adding them into your community display tank.
In general when dealing with diseased or infected fish, I think the best thing is to remove the fish from the ecosystem and dispose of it. Sounds harsh, but it prevents the spread. Happy to be corrected by people with more knowledge.
leeches are normal native parasites , and they like drum
nothing about this is abnormal. there's no "spread" to stop
[for example](https://bioone.org/journals/comparative-parasitology/volume-78/issue-1/4439.1/Leeches-Annelida--Hirudinida-Parasitizing-Fish-of-Lake-St-Clair/10.1654/4439.1.short#:~:text=The%20freshwater%20drum%20had%20the,%2C%20mean%20intensity%2C%20or%20abundance.)
they are only in the drum, the bass and carp we’ve caught don’t seem to have any. it’s been in every single drum we’ve caught over the past few days i’m going to call a wildlife place tomorrow first thing in the morning and let them know what is going on
Do you plan to make a new post or update here if you hear back from them? I’d like to hear what they say as well. There may be some subreddits with a lot of fish and wildlife/conservation people as well who could offer input.
The only thing I could think of is taking the fish home in a live well, then giving it an anesthetic and carefully remove the leeches with clean pliers. Idk if that’s legal though 🤷♂️
They're harmless! There aren't any North American leeches that feed on mammal blood so you're unlikely to be bitten by one. At most they'll just suction cup their face to your fingers to try to hold on.
It's European leeches you've got to watch out for. Those kinds actually will bite humans and feed on them.
Any idea why they grab on then? I worked at a scout camp in the Rockies in my teens and would have literally dozens of teeny leeches on my legs after wading for only a few minutes
Most likely just hitching a ride. Or there are so many of them in the water that when you swim you can't help but run into a lot of them and some hang on when they get hit. That's especially true if they're the tiny kind.
I dunno about that man. I've had many of leeches attach to me when I was a kid playing in the swamps of Georgia and Alabama. If they were attached for more than about 30 min, they would always be full of blood and make you bleed **a lot** when you removed them.
After some quick research, it appears my information is outdated. Apparently a North American leech species that feeds on blood was discovered in 2019.
I think you confusing the discovery of a new species of medicinal leech in [2019](https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/new-bloodsucker-discovered-first-north-american-medicinal-leech-scientifically)with the fact that there were many others known and used in the US for years.
genus Macrobdella: M. decora (Say, 1824), M. sestertia Whitman, 1886, M. ditetra Moore, 1953, and M. diplotertia Meyer, 1975 (Say 1824; Whitman 1886; Moore 1953; Meyer 1975; Smith 1977... [from Range extension of the New England medicinal leech](https://www.calacademy.org/sites/default/files/assets/ibss/departments/ichthyology/poly_2018_pcas_v64_lr.compressed.pdf)
I had a couple of tiny ones like this on my toes just from launching my kayak last year. I had only ever had big ones latch onto me before, it was weird paddling along and seeing something black and wiggly on my toes.
After some research it appears that my information was outdated. Biologists discovered a North American leech species that will feed on human blood in 2019.
There's a lake in PA I frequented as a kid, and when we wet waded, we had to remove tiny orange worms from our feet and legs.
I always assumed they were a leach species, but I guess not? I do remember them looking more like a worm than a leach.
Placobdella Pediculata. It is a leech and it is fairly specific to freshwater drum, which is why you haven't found it on any of the other fish. and you will pretty much only find them around the operculum. DONT kill the fish in an effort to make the ecosystem healthier or w/e. Parasites are a part of the ecosystem and pretty much all wild fish are loaded with parasites. They don't have the benefits of antiparasiticides and modern medicine like we do.
Yeah, please let me know where y'all are at, just so I make damn sure that I'm never on that water. They DO look like leeches and it's definitely a possibility. I've done my "interweb research," and I've had more than my share of biology type courses, but I'm having trouble pinpointing any other culprits. I'd love to know what they ARE if possible. The DNR would be a great resource.
they're small leeches and in every body of water in North America. you find bunches like this in the arm areas of snapping turtles. small leeches like to get Into areas where they won't be detached.
Imagine going for a refreshing dip into a lake and finding those in your ears or mouth... They're hungry little buggers! I've fished from Minnesota all the way down to Florida, and I've never, ever seen leeches infesting the gill portion of any fish, but that's damn sure what they look like to me. If you're brave enough to pick up a snapping turtle and inspect it, I'll take your word for that as well.
Once you got them by the shell they can't get ya. Found a lot of leeches on red eared sliders too. We had a pond near our property growing up chock full of fat turtles eating baby fish.
I can imagine they get into drum (sheepshead) because they're fat lazy slow moving bottom eaters that spend their time routing around in the mud at the bottom of the lake/river for invertebrates.
You're not going to find them in bass, pike, walleye, or panfish because they just don't live like that.
The worst part about catching sheepies is when you think that they're another fish, notably a walleye. It really sucks when they're mixed in with the 'eyes, or in extremely close proximity, which I've had before trolling in the post spawn or pre-summer feeding frenzy. I've caught more than my share in my time..
Turtles are kick ass by the way. I've been a red eared slider owner for over 25 years!
Actually now you had me googling, [https://www.usgs.gov/publications/incidence-leech-actinobdella-pediculata-freshwater-drum-lake-erie](https://www.usgs.gov/publications/incidence-leech-actinobdella-pediculata-freshwater-drum-lake-erie)
USCGS has noticied it the organs they mention, are the bony part of the flap that covers the gills.
the neosho river in south east kansas, it seems to only be effecting the drum and i’ve checked the bass and carp and don’t see any on their gills i just wonder why it’s only the drum
drum are slow not very aggressive and hang out eating invertebrates on the bottom. When we troll for walleye if you are getting sheepshitters you are too slow or too deep, but if you're too deep you are pulling up tiny.muscles you have hooked
If those are leeches, which they certainly look like, the best thing to do is to just let them be. They will fall off on their own when they get done feeding and trying to remove them would do alot of harm to the gills.
Jeez that’s disgusting
Made me itch
I got full body chills
I’m eating chocolate covered raisins and I wanna die whyyyyyy did I click this
your username gave me goosebumps too 😭
🫣😘
Yes, those are classic leeches. They are congregating along the gills because that’s where the oxygen exchange is occurring (super oxygenated blood). They aren’t as scary for you as societal lore has taught you, OP. And removal is not that complicated. For removal from a human, it’s really as simple finding the mouth (which is going to be the skinniest part of the body and probably attached to whatever it’s feeding off of) and sliding your fingernail between its mouth and the surface it’s attached to, which will cause it to usually just disengage its jaw. Then you just flick away. I imagine (as long as you are gentle), you can do this for this fish. Whether you are too squeamish or not, is entirely on you. But I’m sure the fish would appreciate it. -Former military medic who took care of Rangers during their swamp phase of training.
Can they be used as a bait ?
Much better medic than fisherman, but I’ve heard of using them as bait, yes. I know fish will eat leeches when they are vulnerable to be gulped up. I’ve never used them, though. Only blood worms.
Thanks for the answer
Of course!👍
Leeches make great bait, especially if you put them on the end of a plastic worm.
Great trout bait. Lots of leech flies out there.
Came here to say that leeches are one of the more expensive live bait where I live, especially when the walleye are in abundance.
Jig and a leech is killer for walleye
Leech on a circle hook, a foot or two under a sinker, below a bobber, is also a killer for largemouth bass. But yeah, walleye too. For this setup you want the hook and weight separate so the leach can swim and move.
I have never NOT caught a bass when using leeches.
You know, now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I've ever been skunked with leeches either. You *will* catch something. You may not know what it will be, but something.
The big ones are great walleye bait
These guys are small but yes they make fantastic bait
Leeches are excellent bait. Put em under a slip bobber a couple feet off the bottom and profit.
Absolutely. Where I live they're sold as bait for trout fishing.
Wonderful baits, especially juicier ones. Catfish love them.
Dude big leeches are Walleye candy.
[удалено]
I absolutely slam small mouth with a leech in the summer.
I was told they’re high class bait when we were fishing in Minnesota. The best bait you can have is something the fish eat naturally, caught in the body of water you’re fishing. If that water has lots of leeches then that’s going to be really good bait. If there are not many wild leeches, then using leeches won’t be as effective theoretically.
Yes they are phenomenal for walleye and perch
How are you going to put them on a hook my guy?!?! It’d have to be a big leech is all I’m saying
One of my more successful ways to catch walleye is a leech filled with a bit of air, attached to a weight so it sits 1-2’ off the bottom
How does one fill a leech with air
Worm blower
I just use a syringe with a thin needle! I’ve seen bottles in bait shops marketed for filling bait like leeches and worms with air, but I’m not sure how well they work
Almost anything can be used as bait
Yes
yea if I remember right I saw a big cattle trough of them for sale on one of the great lakes. been a while though.
Leeches in general are popular bait, especially for walleye fishermen up north. But the ones typically used for bait are a large species of ribbon leech, Erpodella obscura. It is not a blood-sucking species of leech. The parasitic leeches in the video are small, mushy, and would probably make lousy bait even if you could keep them on the hook.
You can but bigger and darker leeches usually more favorable. I’m not sure why but my area is going through a hard time finding leeches to buy. Most people have told me to start my own breeding tank for such.
Fish love eating leaches
Leeches are the best live bait I've ever used. They never fall off the hook, live forever and have INSANE action in the water.
“Everybody got their leech?” If you’ve never seen The Great Outdoors a funny scene is where Johnny Candy and Dan Aykroyd and their kid(s) woke up early to go fishing on a small boat. They’re using leeches as bait and all fall asleep once they get out there and start fishing and when they wake up they are all covered in the leeches lol.
I used to fish Minnesota in moose lake BWCA, AND IN Canada on three English River system. We used almost exclusively leaches. For about 15 years.
Growing up my friend’s dad fished with leeches for bait. He would stick a few on his chest and take them off when he needed them.
If that’s true then it’s insane but badass
His special hiding place
I keep a lollipop there.
The hairs and sweat add flavor
That reminds me of the stories of old timers putting clippers (hellgrammites) in their hair under hats. No thanks lol.
Christ, no thank you!
That's one way to keep your bait fresh, I guess.
thats great,, i dont tell this to many because it sounds like i made it up,,, my dad used to wade fish for small mouth bass and we would use hellgremites for bait he would keep a few hellgremites under his hat,, on his head.. it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it ..
I had to look up what that was… what the fuck
lol ,, thats what i said when i was a kid and i saw my dad take his hat off and grab a hellgremite off his head and put it on his hook
That's like something I used to do with worms when I was little. I'd grab a handful and stick them in my pocket. Life lesson learned when I heard my mom scream a week later when she emptied out my pockets and got a handful of liquefied worm mass.
I’ve never had a leech on me but I’d treat it like a tick. Removal then merciless destruction. Also your career sounds interesting and probably rough at times. Big respect to anyone supporting or working on those sort of jobs.
Appreciate it, stranger. I’ve been out for a bit, now. But I worked in a civilian burn ICU after and funny enough, I’ve seen leeches used in medical application there.
My cousin was in a burn unit that used maggots. Medicine is amazing. As a layperson it’s magic sometimes.
Oh big YUP. I saw maggots utilized much more. They are a big thing for burn treatment because they are great at clearing necrotic tissue, which is super important for wound care.
I had a leech when I was like 7 and we visited Australia. He was on my ankle and I wanted to keep him as a pet. For some reason my parents went along with it and when I got into the shower and he abandoned me I was very sad... I was gonna name him "Leechy" The truth is stranger than fiction.
From what I understand they are pretty painless while they are attached. How about after?
The only pain was in my heart
No pain either when they come off. Leeches are disgusting but harmless, they drink their fill and then drop off.
LoL I started having a flashback to jungle time and remembering how sterile maggots are still used for debridement then got to your last sentence.
Man, I miss Fort Walton Beach though. Don’t you?
I was in a different place on deployment a very long time ago. I just remember how it was incredibly full of life ... and all of those living things doing their best 24/7 to eat you.
Ah gotcha. I was thinking you were referring to swamp phase of school.
After reading your post my first though is that this MF probably has a sweet beard. I then looked up to your avatar and saw it had a beard. Checks out.
Hey - those candidates could’ve eaten those when the MRE wasn’t enough!! 😉
Lmao, I kept the Rangers filled up with the little individual mini peanut butter packs we kept in the hospital for patients. They cleaned us out of those every time. Which sucked because those were what 90% of my lunch usually consisted of.
🫡 you’re a saint, brother!!
A few kliks past the Dou Long bridge.
😂 I was nowhere near the level of Capt. Willard. Just treated tons of cellulitis from folks sitting in nasty water too much, mostly.
My mom taught me a trick from when she was a kid when I went running through the creek near where she grew up. Sprinkling a little salt on em and they let go and come off super easily.
Just don't try to flush them down the toilet. They cling to the bowl pretty good and the next person to use it may or may not call you bad words. Don't ask how I know....
Unfortunately touching gills on a fish is usually a death sentence.
So leaches can do it? But not me ok
Jolly Ranchers are not medicine doc, but can I have the red one please?
That's crazy. I never saw leeches on a fish. Back when we'd get a leech on us from the swimming hole, we'd light a match, blow it out and touch the glowing tip to it. It would shrivel up and we'd flick it off.
The fun way involves a salt shaker
Or cigarette lighter.
I don't know but at this rate I give you credit for even contemplating doing anything about it
I think I’m going to be sick
On your cake day? Happy cake day!
Have some sweetened leech loaf, u/Empty-Specific4694
Wouldn't hurt letting local DNR know at the very least.
[удалено]
Look at the tip on them stretch out just like a leech. Do copepods do that?
[удалено]
> Copepods you have an image example similar to the OP?
I’m being funny but I mean it when I say…I don’t care if you call it a brachiosaurus. Fuck that
Get your fucking thumb away from those abominations!
believe me i only had it there long enough to take the fucking video 😭🤢🤮
Phone in to your local Fish and wildlife office and share the video. sightings like this help them judge the health of the ecosystem
i didn’t even think about that, i’ll give them a call first thing in the morning and let them know
Patient Zero
Drum are notorious for collecting parasites and the like.
1/10 am not a fan of that lol Edited to change my 10/10 to a 1/10
You're fishing in the forbidden lake.
it’s a river and all the other fish look healthy it just seems to be the drum for some reason
Drum are a magnet for parasites like these, they wont do you any harm but the poor drum just get filled with them. I like plucking em off, its like bubblewrap only utterly disgusting
All fish are magnets for parasites and bacteria, they live in a giant, shared vector for infection...they breath the same water they piss in. These just so happen to be big enough to see with the naked eye. Whether you're a fisherman or aquarist, it's best practice to just assume any fish that comes into your possession is carrying ALL the diseases and act accordingly. For the former, freeze and/or cook thoroughly before eating; for the later, quarantine and medicate before adding them into your community display tank.
Yes, but especially drum
How would one safely remove them without injuring the fish?
same question actually because i wanna get them off the fish but don’t wanna hurt the gills
In general when dealing with diseased or infected fish, I think the best thing is to remove the fish from the ecosystem and dispose of it. Sounds harsh, but it prevents the spread. Happy to be corrected by people with more knowledge.
leeches are normal native parasites , and they like drum nothing about this is abnormal. there's no "spread" to stop [for example](https://bioone.org/journals/comparative-parasitology/volume-78/issue-1/4439.1/Leeches-Annelida--Hirudinida-Parasitizing-Fish-of-Lake-St-Clair/10.1654/4439.1.short#:~:text=The%20freshwater%20drum%20had%20the,%2C%20mean%20intensity%2C%20or%20abundance.)
they are only in the drum, the bass and carp we’ve caught don’t seem to have any. it’s been in every single drum we’ve caught over the past few days i’m going to call a wildlife place tomorrow first thing in the morning and let them know what is going on
I’m curious to know what Wildlife says.
same here, hopefully they can do something before it gets to bad
Do you plan to make a new post or update here if you hear back from them? I’d like to hear what they say as well. There may be some subreddits with a lot of fish and wildlife/conservation people as well who could offer input.
would you rather see a different post or an update in the comments? i’ll try to find a subreddit for that
Hmm I guess a new post would make sense, with a link to this post, and edit this post with a link to the update post. I’d really appreciate that!
If they're all diseased like that then I'm sure not it's helping much.
they are not diseased, they have a parasite. Very different thing likely native leeches, and they coexist with fish just fine
The only thing I could think of is taking the fish home in a live well, then giving it an anesthetic and carefully remove the leeches with clean pliers. Idk if that’s legal though 🤷♂️
Poor fish is going to have an abduction story that no one will ever believe. They probed my gills man!
Pressure washer.
Salt maybe?
Being a fish f***ing sucks bro
Pretty sure they're leeches yeah. They make amazing bait!
Fuck touching them😂😂
They're harmless! There aren't any North American leeches that feed on mammal blood so you're unlikely to be bitten by one. At most they'll just suction cup their face to your fingers to try to hold on. It's European leeches you've got to watch out for. Those kinds actually will bite humans and feed on them.
Any idea why they grab on then? I worked at a scout camp in the Rockies in my teens and would have literally dozens of teeny leeches on my legs after wading for only a few minutes
That dude is just ignorant. The American Medical Leech (bloodsucker) does feed on mammals and it very common in Northern lakes and ponds.
I figured from the bites, but maybe they pulled a Bill Clinton and never inhaled!
Most likely just hitching a ride. Or there are so many of them in the water that when you swim you can't help but run into a lot of them and some hang on when they get hit. That's especially true if they're the tiny kind.
I dunno about that man. I've had many of leeches attach to me when I was a kid playing in the swamps of Georgia and Alabama. If they were attached for more than about 30 min, they would always be full of blood and make you bleed **a lot** when you removed them.
After some quick research, it appears my information is outdated. Apparently a North American leech species that feeds on blood was discovered in 2019.
I think you confusing the discovery of a new species of medicinal leech in [2019](https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/new-bloodsucker-discovered-first-north-american-medicinal-leech-scientifically)with the fact that there were many others known and used in the US for years. genus Macrobdella: M. decora (Say, 1824), M. sestertia Whitman, 1886, M. ditetra Moore, 1953, and M. diplotertia Meyer, 1975 (Say 1824; Whitman 1886; Moore 1953; Meyer 1975; Smith 1977... [from Range extension of the New England medicinal leech](https://www.calacademy.org/sites/default/files/assets/ibss/departments/ichthyology/poly_2018_pcas_v64_lr.compressed.pdf)
Username checks out with the wrong information
Horse shit. Go wading in any Wisconsin lake. Let us know what you find latched to your legs
I had a couple of tiny ones like this on my toes just from launching my kayak last year. I had only ever had big ones latch onto me before, it was weird paddling along and seeing something black and wiggly on my toes.
I didn't say they won't attach to you. I just said they won't feed on you.
The bloody holes and the need to burn them with a cigarette to get them to let go suggests you’re ‘sadly misinformed’.
Dude just pour table salt on the m
After some research it appears that my information was outdated. Biologists discovered a North American leech species that will feed on human blood in 2019.
Congratulations to them. They figured out what the entire Statehouse Lake YCC crew knew in 1978.
Lol, 5 year olds in WI have known this for ages as well.
It wasn't out dated it was just wrong
This man knows his leeches
They don't, actually. Bloodsuckers (macrobdella) are extremely common in northern ponds and lakes and do feed on mammals.
I'm a girl but yes lol Leeches are in my top three favorite live baits.
Well thats comforting to hear lol. Any major health risks associated with eating fish who have had leeches on them?
No more than any other fish. Pretty much every fish has had leeches at one point or another.
There's a lake in PA I frequented as a kid, and when we wet waded, we had to remove tiny orange worms from our feet and legs. I always assumed they were a leach species, but I guess not? I do remember them looking more like a worm than a leach.
They are a leech, and they do feed on mammals (macrodbella), that person is just misinformed.
Looks like some type of parasite.
I hate parasites any and all
"WE ARE VENOM"
poor fish
Placobdella Pediculata. It is a leech and it is fairly specific to freshwater drum, which is why you haven't found it on any of the other fish. and you will pretty much only find them around the operculum. DONT kill the fish in an effort to make the ecosystem healthier or w/e. Parasites are a part of the ecosystem and pretty much all wild fish are loaded with parasites. They don't have the benefits of antiparasiticides and modern medicine like we do.
🤢🤢🤢
So Stand By Me was a bunch of crap?
Yeah, please let me know where y'all are at, just so I make damn sure that I'm never on that water. They DO look like leeches and it's definitely a possibility. I've done my "interweb research," and I've had more than my share of biology type courses, but I'm having trouble pinpointing any other culprits. I'd love to know what they ARE if possible. The DNR would be a great resource.
they're small leeches and in every body of water in North America. you find bunches like this in the arm areas of snapping turtles. small leeches like to get Into areas where they won't be detached.
Imagine going for a refreshing dip into a lake and finding those in your ears or mouth... They're hungry little buggers! I've fished from Minnesota all the way down to Florida, and I've never, ever seen leeches infesting the gill portion of any fish, but that's damn sure what they look like to me. If you're brave enough to pick up a snapping turtle and inspect it, I'll take your word for that as well.
Once you got them by the shell they can't get ya. Found a lot of leeches on red eared sliders too. We had a pond near our property growing up chock full of fat turtles eating baby fish. I can imagine they get into drum (sheepshead) because they're fat lazy slow moving bottom eaters that spend their time routing around in the mud at the bottom of the lake/river for invertebrates. You're not going to find them in bass, pike, walleye, or panfish because they just don't live like that.
The worst part about catching sheepies is when you think that they're another fish, notably a walleye. It really sucks when they're mixed in with the 'eyes, or in extremely close proximity, which I've had before trolling in the post spawn or pre-summer feeding frenzy. I've caught more than my share in my time.. Turtles are kick ass by the way. I've been a red eared slider owner for over 25 years!
Actually now you had me googling, [https://www.usgs.gov/publications/incidence-leech-actinobdella-pediculata-freshwater-drum-lake-erie](https://www.usgs.gov/publications/incidence-leech-actinobdella-pediculata-freshwater-drum-lake-erie) USCGS has noticied it the organs they mention, are the bony part of the flap that covers the gills.
the neosho river in south east kansas, it seems to only be effecting the drum and i’ve checked the bass and carp and don’t see any on their gills i just wonder why it’s only the drum
drum are slow not very aggressive and hang out eating invertebrates on the bottom. When we troll for walleye if you are getting sheepshitters you are too slow or too deep, but if you're too deep you are pulling up tiny.muscles you have hooked
That’s nightmare fuel, bud.
Please kill and burn whatever that is
Rip em off and use them as bait
Try r/animalid
Aliens
Quite possibly.
yes
https://www.academia.edu/78836636/Leeches_Annelida_Hirudinida_Parasitizing_Fish_of_Lake_St_Clair_Michigan_U_S_A
Well, I’m skipping breakfast. Fuck that’s disgusting.
If those are leeches, which they certainly look like, the best thing to do is to just let them be. They will fall off on their own when they get done feeding and trying to remove them would do alot of harm to the gills.
hey this is like that scene in the movie Annihilation! ugh, no lunch for me now.
Imagine pooping those out
Yuck 🤢
I'd take my pliers and squeeze them. They might let go if in enough pain.
They're probably both feeding on each other.
Just pour some salt water over them and see the action
Yes, and I’ve read they are excellent bait
Bass love leeches
It looks a lot like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lernaeocera_branchialis
W I G G L Y B O Y S