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half gill covers

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Capitan Morgan:
Is it common for fresh water fish to have half the gill cover missing? Quite a few I have caught over the last couple off weeks have suffered from this.

elops:
This is something which occurs in cultured/stocked fish.

cheers
Steve

Capitan Morgan:
Thanks, I have been fishing down river from Moogerah. I presume a genetic issue?

k.hutchby:
yeah the missing gill cover syndrome is common in cultured fish, in particular barramundi.  these cover however in barramundi do grow over throughout time, and i have experienced crops in the hatchery with up to 90% of this.  not a major drama.  the cause, is bacteria in the hatching to larval stages, not genetic.  mainly vibrio spp of bacteria which inhibit the movement of the gill cover once developed, once the gill covers atart moving after hatch this tears away the tissue leaving a big hole, so to speak.  in no way doe this inhibit the fishes performance in growth or ability for oxygen exchange.

hope this helps

cheers
kh

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