Sea Lice?

[Key of Sea Too]

I read another string where they said a striper had "sea Lice". What does this look like? Anyone have a pic?

[Flaptail]

They are small brown creatures about the size of a grain of rice. The look like a cross between a seaworm and a shrimp ( meaning they show body features of both) they can be found on bass of all sizes and are not, to my knowledge, detrimental to the basses health. They are most prevalent on fish in large schools and if you are catching bass with lots of lice it means there are a lot of fish in the area you picked to fish. ( lucky for you). I have seen bass by the thousands on flats in Cape Cod Bay and at Monomoy rolling in the sand ridding themselves of them. I look on sea lice as a good sign when they are found clinging to the bass's body as I beach it or lift it over the gunwale of my boat and the more there are 9 times out of 10 means there are more fish to be had. Hope that helps, Flap.

[PurpelNoon]

I heard someone mention once that a bass with lice on it is a sign of the fish under stress? I'm not exactly sure what they mean, but is this true?

[Flaptail]

No. Bass under stress, wether it be from wintering over and lack of food or oxygen levels being low show stress in a completely different way. Have you ever fished for bass in the winter months? If you have you might have caught a few with what we lovingly refer to as the "ick". Their fins will begin to erode between the rays and thier protective slime coat disappears and is "replaced" by a rough whitish colored coating. The fish will take when the opportunity presents itself but the lack of nutients in thier diet and the slow down in thier metabolisms bring on a appearence that is not very pleasing to the eye. I have had people tell me that they have seen this in larger bass over the last several seasons where the once abundant pogie population has all but diasspeared which leads to that oft heard theory of why the Menhaden/bunker/pogies, whatever name you call them by, must be protected as larger fish rely on them for certian very important nutrients, oils etc. I am not a scientist but some professionally trained icthyologists and marine biologists are leaning to that. Sea lice just happen to appear more when thier is a multitude of host animals like a big school of bass.

[PurpelNoon]

That makes sense. When I had fish in a tank, they showed similar characteristics.
So is a fish with sea lice edible? I wasn't sure if they remained external or not? Thanks.

[Flaptail]

They are external and the fish are quite edible.

[Nebe]

sea lice make a nice garnish when yoru short on parsely

[DaveS]

I use them on my salad like bacon bits.

[PurpelNoon]

[Navy Chief]

In the Sea of Japan they have Sea Lice 6-8" long. I think they crawl around on the bottom but they are the same critter.

They boil them up like lobsters and eat them with melted butter.

[Flaptail]

Ick!!!!!!!