Black Spots on Fillets

[fishersofmen]

I'm sure this has been gone over before but I took home a few sunfish tonight and cleaned them. The skin on these are covered with little black spots on the inside and and the fillets have black spots all over them as well. Does anyone know what this is and are they okay to eat?? Thanks.

[goblueM]

its called neascus, its a parasite. They are totally fine to eat, its mostly an aesthetic issue. Just make sure you cook them properly

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fish_diseases/neascus.html

[hamms-scooter]

I have seen this lots before as well.Don't know what it is either ate the fish and i'm still kickin

[Colt_45]

Neascus-

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/fisheries/special_reports/165a07.pdf

Page 12

I think this is what you are looking for, I have heard it is safe to eat somewhere else but still gross if there are tons, I have had fish with a couple.

Colt

[bobbymalone]

if i see the spots on the fins, I won't keep them. Most of the time I won't keep anything if I find the spots on a few fish.

Some old timer gave me a really nice sunny when he was packing up and that was his only fish. I saw the spots on the fins but didn't think too much of it. Caught a few more for meal and when I got home and cleaned them the nice one had those spots all over in the meat. I just thought, "Nope, not gonna do it" and that was the first and last sunny with black spots I ever brought home.

They say its safe but it just isn't something I need to do.

[Far-I]

I've eaten hundreds/thousands of those black spots.

Take that for good or bad, depending on what you think of me

Seriously, as said above, aesthetic issue only. Especially if your battering and frying your fish, who cares?

same with yellow grubs. extra protein.

[jBohmer]

I've eaten hundreds/thousands of those black spots.

Take that for good or bad, depending on what you think of me

Seriously, as said above, aesthetic issue only. Especially if your battering and frying your fish, who cares?

same with yellow grubs. extra protein.

Yuk! And I will eat about anything. It just a mental thing to me. Like finding a piece of hair in your food in a restaurant, it won't hurt you but will give you the willys thinking about it if you continue your meal. Not trying to give you a hard time Far.

[zamboni]

I have a question, if cooked fish with it is fine, but say pickled northern with it is not safe?

[KC612]

I caught a few trout at a small lake near Grand Marais that had neascus (I think). The MN DNR HSOforum said these lakes had trout infected with neascus, but I thought I read when researching neascus that it was white worm type things coming out of the gills and not black spots?

[MidCoast]

Yeps, fillets with those spots are safe to eat. However, I dont eat any fishes with black spots on it. That's just me though.

[fishin4fun85]

spots are fine.....with time you wont be able to find many lakes that wont have these parasites....get used to it while you can....try and imagine not eating fish anymore now think of how good a fresh batch of fish tastes the spots dont change anything

[tsande00]

I too have eaten a lot of fillets with the black spots. The yellow grubs though? I think I would draw the line...if it squiggles, wiggles, or looks like it might squiggle or wiggle I'm not gonna eat it.

[yamihoo]

I'm no picky eater either, I eat sushi once a month at least, and will try almost any exotic food if its not slimy and crawling. But parasites are always a gamble. You might not get sick, but parasite problems show up years later.

I catch plenty of fish with them, and without them, I choose to only eat fish without them. Look up some parasite stories, they go from nasty to deadly brain infections. All of our immune systems are different, most people won't have any effects, but is it worth the risk??? Guess thats your choice.

[mnbuckhunter]

I'm no picky eater either, I eat sushi once a month at least, and will try almost any exotic food if its not slimy and crawling. But parasites are always a gamble. You might not get sick, but parasite problems show up years later.

I catch plenty of fish with them, and without them, I choose to only eat fish without them. Look up some parasite stories, they go from nasty to deadly brain infections. All of our immune systems are different, most people won't have any effects, but is it worth the risk??? Guess thats your choice.

yamihoo - Can you point us to some of these "parasite stories" that are from this Neascus parasite?

[Slabasaurus]

The black spots are the larval stage of this parasite, the adult stage occurs only in birds that eat infected fish.

They're killed when cooking anyway, so no harm at all. I've never been able to notice any taste/texture/olfactory differences with these so I cook em right up. At first I was a little hesitant, but once I learned more about the parasite, I was ok with eating fish infected with the Neascus parasite.

[tsande00]

The black spots are the larval stage of this parasite, the adult stage occurs only in birds that eat infected fish.

They're killed when cooking anyway, so no harm at all. I've never been able to notice any taste/texture/olfactory differences with these so I cook em right up. At first I was a little hesitant, but once I learned more about the parasite, I was ok with eating fish infected with the Neascus parasite.

Some guy told me that he fed his chickens a bunch of fish scraps that he had from fishing Pelican Lake in wright county. He said the majority of the chickens died not long after. I thought he was blowing smoke in the hope that people would stop pressuring "his" lake so hard but now I'm wondering if there was some truth to it.

[fishersofmen]

Never seen them on fish out of Pelican, but that doesn't mean there aren't any in there. After hearing what everyone has said I'm not too bothered and will cook them up. Can't be any more risky than eating at McDonalds...

Pretty sure most guys on here have eaten a hot dog or two, any idea what is in them??

[reinhard1]

years ago when pelican just started to get a few people that knew of the big crappies the lake had [now not that many] i cought some nice 14in crappies and kept a few to eat. this was in the spring off shore. they were clean and the flesh was perfect but all of them had live tapeworms in their stomachs. i have never seen this in any fish before and never have since. they ate good but it was weird. good luck.

[TYLERV]

a lot of bass and some walleye i have caught have had those black spots on their fins and in the meat but they tasted fine and me nor my family got sick

[fishguy21]

We can all help prevent these diseases by helping keep the mucous layer on the fish. The best way to do this is to take the hook out with the fish in the water or wet your hands before handling the fish.

[FlagsDown]

Think of them as Flavor Crystals!

[Jim Cramer]

Eat them, they don't hurt a thing. If it is a problem just add a little more pepper.

[minnbowhunter]

If I quit eating fish because of black spots I would go into fish withdrawls.

[Gordie]

I'm sure this has been gone over before but I took home a few sunfish tonight and cleaned them. The skin on these are covered with little black spots on the inside and and the fillets have black spots all over them as well. Does anyone know what this is and are they okay to eat?? Thanks.

SHHHH dont tell anyone cause then everyone will want some

[lutzy]

I have eaten thousands of fish with these and have fed them to hundreds of other people with no prob. They are just fine. If anyone out there doesn't want to eat them give me a call after you clean them and I'll take them.