LIKE HUMANS, FISH SUFFER FROM A WIDE RANGE OF PROBLEMS. HERE ARE EXAMPLES OF A FEW OF THESE.
Over the course of a life time, every angler is bound to come across fish with physical problems. The extent and range can vary enormously to the point where you seriously have to wonder how some individuals have made it through as far as they have. When I come across fish at the extreme end of the range, I generally react in one of two ways. If the problem is still developing and will ultimately lead to suffering and a lingering death, I have no hesitation in putting that fish out of its misery whether its edible or not. Actually, being classified as edible doesn't come into the reckoning as you probably wouldn't want to eat a fish in such a bad state anyway. But if the problem is not still developing such as a physical deformity, having struggled through and made it so far against all the odds, I would have no hesitation in returning it fish, regardless of its food value.
Fish with physical deformities such as some of the ones shown here, theoretically at least, should become the victims either of predation because they are often unable to escape quickly enough, or of starvation because their prey is better equipped to out pace or get the better of them in other ways. So a fish that makes it through with maybe a bent body, a damaged fin or no tail, defying both the statistical odds and the laws of Darwinian evolution where only the fittest should survive, should be admired for the hardship it must obviously have endured and has apparently mastered.
As I hinted earlier, physical problems fall loosely into the two categories of disease and deformity. In some instances the two may be directly linked such as where an earlier disease problem with physical repercussions has been overcome. This can and does happen, the severity of which is dependent upon where on an individuals body the disease attacks. Fish can survive quite nasty woulds as evidenced by healed cuts and bites from either larger fish or seals. On the other hand, something which is outwardly quite minor to us such as a damaged pectoral fin, can in fact be life threatening if the fish is unable to compete to stay alive.
Probably the most widely witnessed fishy problem is that of ulcers and similar skin problems in flatfish. A lot of work has been done on this subject with pollution likely to be the main culprit. Pollutants themselves fall into many categories. Organic pollution which cause bacteria to multiply rapidly stripping oxygen from the water leading to fish suffocation and the destruction of the invertebrate food chains is a major problem in freshwater. Less so at sea. Of greater concern in estuaries and the adjacent open sea are persistent chemicals that bacteria are unable to break down. These become locked into bottom sediments where they can affect bottom loving species such as flatfish which lie on or bury themselves into it leading to the protective properties of their skin breaking down allowing in parasites and pathogens resulting in some the damage that we see.
Physical problems can result from a very wide range of causes. They could be the result of surviving an attack. Also the result of surviving anglers who can and often do damage fish when trying to return them. Some even inflict damage deliberately. I've seen living tope for example almost cut in two by rubber rings digging into their bodies. Okay, so it could have been accidental, but I think not. Why anyone would want to do that to any other living creature is beyond me. But most of the physical problems I have come across have been either the result of some disease that has been beaten, or are genetic such as when a set of DNA instructions is copied wrong. Radiation can also lead to genetic problems by breaking up the messages carried by DNA. But equally, dietary deficiencies can lead to physical deformities such as lordosis and scoliosis which are spinal problems twisting either to one side or in a downwards direction.
What follows is a collection of photographs collected over the years of fish that I have come across with problems. Apologies for the quality of some of the pictures which in the early days were shot on poor quality equipment and have since been digitally copied. Quite an interesting archive I hope you will agree.
