Can You Eat A Fish With These Black Spots In New York?

One of the best things to do on a hot summer day is to head to a lake or a stream with a fishing pole.  But if you catch a fish that looks like this, can you eat it?

It's pretty common to find a fish with these black spots all over its body. They're normally very small, and the fish will be speckled with them almost all over their entire body. You see them in bottom-feeding fish quite a bit. If you catch one, you'll probably wonder what caused it to look like that, and if you're fishing for your dinner, you might be wondering if you'll be able to eat it.

What is Black Spot Disease, and what causes it?

Fish that have these spots have something called black spot disease. It's caused by a parasite called trematodes. They're tiny little worms that are encapsulated in the little black spots.

The way it gets passed involves a cycle that includes the fish, a bird, and a snail.  The bird, like an osprey, a gull, a heron, or some other water-inhabiting bird, will eat a fish that has these black spots on them. When they do, they're ingesting the worm, which will then lay eggs in the bird's digestive system. When it passes the eggs (by pooping) into the water, they will hatch into tiny microscopic creatures. Those microscopic creatures will swim around in the water to find their next host, which is normally a snail. While inside the snail, they will grow again and leave to find yet another host.

Those black spots you see on the fish are tiny cysts that the fish has created to encapsulate the tiny worm that has embedded itself under the skin of the fish.

Kind of gross, right?

Can you eat a fish with black spot disease?

Most people choose to just throw fish with black spot disease back. But what if you're really hungry and this is the only fish you've caught all day?  Can you eat it?

You can.  As long as you cook it to 145 degrees, you'll be fine. Cooking fish to that temperature should kill the remaining parasites on the fish. Unfortunately, you'll be able to taste them when you eat them, though. Some people even describe them as having a crunchy, almost sandy texture.

I wouldn't chance it, but if you're hungry enough, it might not matter.