Fish Question

So a couple weeks ago I caught a decent cutthroat out of American lake and it had what appeared to be sea lice on it, see pics below... my question is are they sea lice and do sea lice live in fresh water? cause i was under the impression they do not.  also a side note it had about 8 oz of roe inside it, looked to be full sized eggs.  the only highly unlikely thing i can think of is somehow if it is fresh out of the saltwater it traveled up Sequalitchew creek up the fish ladder through all those beaver dams back there through Sequalitchew lake and through some creek that i don't know about that connects with American lake... which would be impressive

Sea lice are a kind of parasitic copepod. On the fish you are asking about, thats looks to be one of the various Salmincola spp. of parasitic copepods.

I've seen em on the gills and the skin of trout myself.



http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/species/disease/pdfs/fishdiseases/salmincola.pdf

interesting, thanks Micah, I did not know that

On north Fort Lewis, Seqwaulitchew(sp) Lake connects to American Lake via a small cut and culvert that goes under N. Pendleton Ave. It's nothing major, in fact it almost dries up during summer months, but it's there. Unless you;ve used that road a lot, you'd never know it.

thats what I was starting to suspect but hadn't actually stopped to look, I had heard that a few years ago they tried to introduce salmon into it, which is why they installed a fish ladder on sequalitchew creek, but the ladder is in a state of disrepair and the beaver dams along the way made it almost impossible for the fish to return.  also heard that if your adventurous enough and make your way to one of those beaver ponds there are some good fish to catch.  probably just fishing tales...

Seqwalitchew has some monster bass roaming in it. Have to check in with the post range control office. not sure about putting a yak on it, but the possibility is there.

so I have heard, I will be checking it out a little closer once it warms up, I checked it out a couple weeks ago, kayaks are a go there, internal combustion engines are prohibited, there are a lot of spots to put in at if you know where to look

That's a nice sea-run cutty coming back in for the spawn. All of them in Lake WA have been post-spawn since early February, but the spawn window goes thru March. I bet those eggs were mature. She was probably ready to pop when you got her.

That's a nice sea-run cutty coming back in for the spawn. All of them in Lake WA have been post-spawn since early February, but the spawn window goes thru March. I bet those eggs were mature. She was probably ready to pop when you got her.

I highly doubt that fish came from the salt. 

Yeah, your probably right. I don't know that lake, and it would be very odd for one to be coming back now (assuming it's possible at all). The copepods (sea lice) around here are a bit different looking too. It is odd that the gills/mouth area don't seem to have them if they are freshwater parasitic copepods. Just call me Bepuzzled.

Too bad there isn't a fish biologist around here....Mr. bsteves?

Yeah, your probably right. I don't know that lake, and it would be very odd for one to be coming back now (assuming it's possible at all). The copepods (sea lice) around here are a bit different looking too. It is odd that the gills/mouth area don't seem to have them if they are freshwater parasitic copepods. Just call me Bepuzzled.

That is a sea lice from an ocean fish. They are found 99% of the time just before the tail.

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Ok somebody break out Google earth and check that area. Gotta find the inlet to the lake if that is a true sea run.

Cant do it from the resources i have at hand right now.

Dude it's not an ocean fish.  WandE has been catching lots of cutts in AL. 

There are many species of parasitic copepod in freshwater.  If I had to guess the "sea lice" in the photo of the variety known as "gill lice".  Whether it's Salmincola or Ergasilus, I'm not sure.

Here's a link to government publication in case anyone wants to read through it to figure this out.

Copepod parasites of freshwater fish: Ergasilus, Achtheres, and Salmincola
1977, Hoffman, Glenn L.
Federal Government Series: Fish Disease Leaflet - 48

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924000778476;seq=49;view=1up