What's Up With This Striped Bass?

So What do you think the scaring is on this bass. I know the angler caught is somewhere near Raritan Bay so it could be from the spawn. If so, she sure was beat up.


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Looks a little beat up. I don't think much of anything.

So I reached out to a fisheries biologist. He's done a lot of work on the disease and here's what he had to say.

"The skin lesions here do have some strong similarities to the skin lesions associated with mycobacteriosis. There’s erosion hemorrhage, and pigmentation … only histopathology could confirm what it is…sorry! Hope you are well! I’ll be heading up your way to do some work in the Passaic River towards early fall…. We have some funding to do mummichog liver histopathology to look at potential health impacts due to chemical contamination….This follows on my long-standing work on cancer in this little fish associated with creosote contamination"

Was going guess myco, but better you got that from an expert. I usually catch one fish a year with a mild case, even up here...

So I reached out to a fisheries biologist. He's done a lot of work on the disease and here's what he had to say.

"The skin lesions here do have some strong similarities to the skin lesions associated with mycobacteriosis. There’s erosion hemorrhage, and pigmentation … only histopathology could confirm what it is…sorry! Hope you are well! I’ll be heading up your way to do some work in the Passaic River towards early fall…. We have some funding to do mummichog liver histopathology to look at potential health impacts due to chemical contamination….This follows on my long-standing work on cancer in this little fish associated with creosote contamination"

Mummichog. My new nickname for the misses.