One eyed Sunfish

[Sheephead Slayer]

We were fishing today and caught several Sunfish with one eye missing. These were Behemuth Bluegills 9-1/2 to 11-1/2

(sorry private lake) and only thing we could come up with was that the forage was low and they were sucking the eyeballs out of eachother?? MJ where ya been, like to hear your thought on this one.

Kevin.

[river huntfish]

Dang thats odd cant even imagine that.

[fish500]

My guess is that they are old fish that have been in some fights so to speak. Probably just random chance that you caught several fish that had been attacked by birds or other predators. Either that or some disease that I don't know about. I have seen a lot of fish with missing eyes, and always assumed it was due to a bird's beak. Maybe a flock of cormorants found this private lake?

[Deitz Dittrich]

I think a few of the fish loose thier eye from birds during the spawn...The bigger the fish, the more spawns they have lived through. Was the lake your fishing one that has a lot of shallow water structure then deeper drop offs with little deeper cover? Some sunfish will spawn deeper, I have found them as deep as 11 feet deep spawning. But if there is no deep cover to spawn in, then it all has to be done shallow.

[Black_Bay]

My guess is that this is from hook injuries. I've caught bluegills that have swallowed the hook and it's poked out in the eye socket. It usually happens with the smaller ones.

[The Grebe]

Maybe pesticides? Maybe a mutant gene in the certain

sunfish of the private lake? Possibly even a type of parasite?

[decoy]

I have observed this from beginning to end in my large aquariums.

The fish gets roughed up by other fish and gets an eye injury. This would most likely happen during the spawn for a sun fish. The eye gets infected, cloudy and swells out. This infection is called "Popeye."

It makes complete since as the bull gills are trying to fend off nest robbers and protect their territory.

After the eye trauma occurs, and "Popeye" sets in, the eye eventually just dissolves and the socket heals over.

Whatever the injury to the eye is, be it natural or man-made ( the bird theory is doubtful), the result is all the same.

As fishermen, we should avoid touching the eyes of fish we plan to release. This includes extended time in a landing net.

Even the slightest injury to the cornea can lead to these types of infections.

Hope this helps.

[TNFL]

Very informative, Thanks decoy.