Yikes, look at the messed up spine on this coho we got in recent days:

Two wacky bends in the spine, one above the rib cage, the other near the adipose fin ...

Another look on the floor ...



And a look at the spine after filleting ...



Can't say I've seen such a messed up spine before. Not sure if it's the result of a condition or an injury.

Any insight??

I can see that it was a hatchery fish, so it might have had some type in injury while it was a smolt. Or it could be a "hatch" defect (instead of birth). At leased the meat still looked good.

Bob-
Probably just a birth defect...kinda like fish scoliosis. I have seen this a few times over the years. One was a winter brat and I showed it to a biologist friend and that's what he thought it was. There was absolutely no marks or scars suggesting that in was due to an injury. He stated that if it was due to an injury when the fish was young it would have some sort of healed scar and mine did not. It doesn't look like this fish did either...did it?

Talk to you soon!
CM

That guy holding the fish must be huge! The fish looks small in his hands, but looks pretty dang big on the deck of the boat. How much did it weigh? The fish that is.

That fish spent too much time holding under logs as a smolt, He must have been scared of the guides catching all the fish!

I too have sen a couple a fish with similiar defects,no scars.Kind of freaky when you first see them.

I know an orthopedic surgeon that could have helped that fish out...

Possible explaination: whirling disease has found its way into Coho?

Looks like a keeper to me!! Strange looking though, but good handholds for the photo op!!!

Was wondering the same thing, FishDoctor.

Yes, Kent is a large fella ... so was Clyde behind him. Then again, I'm not tiny either ... with the three of us in the boat a few fisheys and people could hear us a comin' in the riffles.

Fish was about average, 9-10 pounds.

Maybe he just squeezed him too hard when I wasn't looking

"I will hug him, and squeeze him and love him, George"

I caught a coho at Sekiu several years back that had two mouths.

The original, large mouth was fused shut. There was a second, freak mouth underneath that the fish had used for eating. I should have saved the head...

Caught a 14 pound coho at B10 this year that was just like that one, either scoliosis or lordosis, very common condition in hatcheries, we used to call them "tractor fish". Most don't survive after release as they can't swim quite as fast as their bretheren, but in these good ocean conditions apparently they don't have to.