Humped back walleye!?

pdubya · **Joined:** Tue Feb 19, 2013 11:33 am **Posts:** 92

I'm sure most have heard the one liner like" "sure Lake Ontario fish are great to eat once you get over the fact that they have six eyeballs..." LOL :lol:

Attached is a picture of a walleye that I caught at night off Kingston in mid September (took a while for my friend to send it from his cellphone). I apologize for the cell phone picture quality.
It was about 18 inches long, that's normally the size I like to keep and eat (I put the big ones back), but after further reflection I thought "yecch", besides the warped spine would make for tricky filleting.

Question is: is this a birth defect or did the fish get chomped by a pike (or other predator) in its youth and manage to survive.

Either way it's remarkable that it survived to grow that big.

EagleEyesFlash · **Posted:** Wed Oct 30, 2013 9:53 am

It may have gotten half frozen and then released too.
Have seen that "humpie" all over the province and looks
like a spinal injury to me.

Little Hole · **Joined:** Sat Jan 05, 2013 10:34 pm **Posts:** 104

Likely a spinal/rib injury when it was younger. I cleaned a brown trout a number of years ago with a very similar deformity (although not quite as pronounced as this). Turned out the ribs were broken and fused together as it grew.

EvesR · **Posted:** Wed Oct 30, 2013 1:03 pm

My wife kept a shiner from my minnow bucket in her tank one year, it developed the same crooked spine over time. It still lived like that for at least a year

Fish Farmer · **Posted:** Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:06 am

Here is a nice eater from Quinte I caught awhile back

teppy · **Posted:** Fri Nov 01, 2013 10:42 am

Yikes.... if you like cauliflower (sp) with your fish!!! lol

Walleye with a side of..... a hell you finish the sentence!

BryanG · **Posted:** Mon Nov 04, 2013 12:40 pm

Ewww amazing both are eating. The humpback is from a birth defect amazingly it can chase down food i guess lol

Broadside · **Joined:** Thu Feb 17, 2011 8:35 pm **Posts:** 21

Fish Farmer wrote:

Here is a nice eater from Quinte I caught awhile back

That is a sad looking fish!

Fred Fisher · **Posted:** Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:07 am

I have seen many fish with that fungus and if it is real bad I don't release them figuring that it will help with the spread of it to other fish. I might be out to lunch on that but I figure that it should help. Another thing I do is if I get one with a small spot on it I cut it off with my knife and put some Ick on the spot. Ick is a chemical used to treat different skin disease on aquarium fish and you get it at pet stores. I carry a bottle in my boat and in my hut all the time and again I am not sure if it helps but I figure it don't hurt to try...

jimmer58 · **Joined:** Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:17 am **Posts:** 29

Fred Fisher wrote:

I have seen many fish with that fungus and if it is real bad I don't release them figuring that it will help with the spread of it to other fish. I might be out to lunch on that but I figure that it should help. Another thing I do is if I get one with a small spot on it I cut it off with my knife and put some Ick on the spot. Ick is a chemical used to treat different skin disease on aquarium fish and you get it at pet stores. I carry a bottle in my boat and in my hut all the time and again I am not sure if it helps but I figure it don't hurt to try...

Interesting.
It's actually called malachite green, which is used to treat the parisite called ick.
Lymphosarcoma can be passsed to other fish, so I would think that this can be passed on also. Any biologists on here????

BryanG · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:47 am

Microbiologist lol

EvesR · **Posted:** Fri Nov 15, 2013 2:49 pm

What is shown on the walleye is "Walleye Dermal Sarcoma" caused by infection from a retrovirus. The lesions are usually seen to begin forming in the fall as water temps drop and they regress after the spring spawn. The virus is contagious and is transmitted usually during the spawn by direct or indirect contact as the tissues contain the most virus at these times and begin to shed (as opposed to the fall when the tumours contain the least virus). After the spawn the tumours regress and are not typically seen in the summer. Studies have shown that walleye typically only experience the tumour growth once in their lifetime suggesting some immunological defense against the virus.
Some info on Malachite green
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/food/inform ... 2268947157

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Humped back walleye!?

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