[dos ballenas]

Originally Posted by chris138

Congratulations! Great catch! I'm sure there will be many more

Hey Owyn,

In the "cooler" picture you can see small parasites all over the side of the fish. I've seen these on many YT that I've caught in the last 12 months or so.

What types of parasites are these? Copepods? Do they have an adverse affect on the animal's health/quality of the meat?

yeap they're copepods....

http://www.thedorsalfin.com/shark-ne...-sharks-video/

2:02 shows similar ones attached to dorsal fin.

They occur in pretty much all pelagic species from YT to mako sharks. I'm not an expert on parasites, but I don't think they HELP the fish

AS far as hurting the fillets.... nope! I can always sample them for you and report back if you prefer

Also, is there any migratory or life cycle information which can be ascertained from the presence of the parasites on YT?

good question. some parasite have been used to infer migratory patterns in some species, but I don't think it would work in this case. Electronic tagging (a project I'm currently trying to get started) and ort conventional tagging is the only way to address this. Similar studies in New Zealand suggest that YT over 30 pounds have a HOME range

Not that anybody really cares, but just my 2 cents regarding "posting" and posts about posting:

In case some of you guys didn't know, Owyn happens to work with southwest fisheries and is a resident expert on YT population dynamics. His remarks about the sustainability of our fishery should be taken to heart... he is one of our few advocates as fishermen, in a scientific community which largely views recreational fishing as something to be systematically eliminated. Thanks Owyn!

thanks Ryan. now they know where to find me

See you on the water!