Hey Guys!!
This is my first post on here but I couldn't help myself with this one!
Went for a fish this morning around kirribilli and pulled up a couple of leatheries and a small snapper that managed to hook itself on a 7/0 using an old yakka as bait. At first everything seemed fine with my catch, that is, until I brought them home and started cleaning them.
That photo is of the fish on the wharf just before I left and as you can see there's a small hole/indent in the side of the fish with a little something poking out. On closer inspection at home, I thought it was a fin or something that didn't come out properly so I started to pull it out and that's when the biggest parasite I've seen came out. Now I've seen the usual parasites / "doctors" on the gills and tongues of other fish but this one really took me by surprise.
The second photo shows the parasite next to the fish and the hole that it came out of. The plastic bag's there because it freaked me out after I watched "The Bay" a couple of weeks ago. It's a D class movie, but I couldn't help myself, and having seen it, I really didn't want to touch the parasite or the fish again even though I know it's harmless lol.
Anyway, there's been a bit of talk on here about these parasites, but no photos as far as I can find so I thought I'd share. So please let me know if you've had a similar experience, or found one even bigger than the one I've got there, the parsite, not the leather jacket I mean.
Miraz