So I am seeing something I have never seen before… maybe because I haven’t done much panfishing in the past. The last few times I have purchased crappie minnows, the minnows seem to have some sort of black specks on them… Kind of like they got rolled in poppy seeds or something.
Does anyone know what this is? Is this dangerous for the lakes to be introduced to? We are driving WAY out of our way to try and avoid these types of minnows…would be nice to know what the heck it is on them.
Same thing I’ve been seeing. Looks just like the worms you see in a gamefish except they are more pronounced since they are in a little minnow.
They are freshwater clams, which are quite common in streams, rivers, and lakes. The freshwater clam is unique by being parasitic on fish.
John
I’ve never heard of them being clams. They are very common (seen them for years) and I’ve been told they are a parasite which poises no problems.
Clams attached to fish are in their juvenile stage of life. They form a cyst on the fish’s skin, which is proceeded by a slime coating that protects the clam.
I have seen similar dots on sunfish and perch, with those related to the life cycle of snails. Those dots are smaller than what I’ve seen on the minnows, usually not raised up and sometimes accompanied by small worms in the flesh.
This is very interesting, do you know of any documentation on the life cycle of clams explaining what is going on?
Black Spot Disease, Uvulifer ambloplitis
Have you ever caught a fish that looked like someone had sprinkled it with coarse-ground pepper? You were likely looking at black spot disease, caused by the larval stage of certain flukes that live as adults in fish-eating birds. Any fish can become infected. The most frequently infected are sunfish, yellow perch, northern pike, bass, and other fish that live in shallow water and vegetated areas where birds and snails are found.
Life Cycle: 1 The adult fluke lives in the digestive tract of fish-eating birds, typically kingfishers or herons. It produces eggs, which pass from the bird in its droppings. The eggs hatch in water, liberating larvae called miracidia that swim around until they encounter a snail.
2 After digging their way into the snail, the miracidia form mother sporocysts. Mother sporocysts produce sporocysts that invade the snail’s liver. In about six weeks, each sporocyst produces another form called a cercaria.
3 Cercariae emerge from the snail into the water. They seek out a fish and penetrate its flesh, forming cysts just under the skin and in the flesh.
4 If a bird eats infected fish, the parasites leave the cysts and mature in the digestive tract of the bird, starting the cycle again.
Effects on Fish: Black spot is rarely fatal to fish. A heavy infection may make a fry’s eyes bulge. If heavily infected fish live in stressful conditions (poor nutrition, injury, crowding, etc.), they could die.
Effects on People: Black spot disease is not harmful to humans. However, you may find the spots unappetizing. Your best bet is simply to remove the skin and cysts in the flesh before cooking the fish.
And those pesky cream colored worms 
you see in perch, tulibee and sunfish:
Yellow Grub, Clinostomum complanatum
Adult yellow grubs are flukes and live in a heron’s mouth. The larval stage, called a metacercaria, is the form referred to as a yellow grub. It appears as a yellowish cyst in the flesh or just under the skin of fish, most commonly yellow perch but also black bass and sunfish. Yellow grub doesn?t infect humans.
Life Cycle: 1 The eggs move from an infected heron’s mouth into the water while the heron is catching fish. Once in the water, the eggs hatch almost immediately into miracidia.
2 When the miracidia come into contact with a ram’s horn snail, they burrow into it and migrate to the snail’s digestive gland or liver. The miracidia develop into sporocysts, which produce larvae called mother rediae. Each mother redia produces three to 15 daughter rediae.
3 Daughter rediae form cercariae, which escape from the snail into the surrounding water. When the cercariae encounter a fish, they burrow into it and form a cyst, often near the tail or front fins. They develop into metacercariae —yellow grubs—within about 20 weeks.
4 When a heron eats infected fish, the metacercariae migrate to its mouth and matures into flukes. There the flukes produce eggs, beginning the cycle again.
Effects on Fish: Yellow grubs usually have no significant effect on fish.
Effects on People: Like other parasites of birds, this fluke will not infect people. If you want, you can remove the cyst with a knife. When the fish is cooked thoroughly, the cysts will die and not be noticeable.
Yep…noticed the same thing on the minnows I bought this weekend. Thanks for the info…
Jim
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