Is this normal?

[skekoam]

My son caught this one a few weeks ago at a community pond.  The tail area looks jacked to me.  I've never seen anything like it.  Wonder if its some type of deformity?  Caught at least two others with the same issue, unless it was the same fish...

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

Injuries happen to fish and some manage to survive to adulthood like that one. I had one similar earlier this summer.

[TnRiver46]

I would say abnormal 

[Spankey]

Probably has plastics stuck in his intestine and guts. 

[Guitarfish]

Don't know why you would think that.  I have seen several deformed fish over 30 years of fishing.  Likely birth defects.

 

My old man used to raise fish in aquariums and occasionally a new hatch would contain some wacky tails.

[Spankey]

So you think it’s normal. I don’t think it’s normal. Don’t look normal. 

[skekoam]

4 hours ago, Guitarfish said:

Don't know why you would think that.  I have seen several deformed fish over 30 years of fishing.  Likely birth defects.

 

My old man used to raise fish in aquariums and occasionally a new hatch would contain some wacky tails.

Haven't fished as long as you, but never saw a fish like this so was just curious.

[Big Rick]

12 hours ago, Spankey said:

Probably has plastics stuck in his intestine and guts. 

This. I've seen it before. A friend has a nice stocked pond that I fish from time to time. I caught a fish that looked almost identical to that one. I took it home to dissect and see what was up. Sure enough, there were 2 plastic lizards in it's belly. 

[Spankey]

I’m no biologist by any means but physical damage inflicted to a fish in nature is one thing. If catching fish like that is common I’d think it is soft plastics stuck causing that. The body is skinny also compared to the head. If a fish swallows a soft plastic it can’t be helped. They will hauk things up. Maybe some they can’t. I fish the river near the power plant and no fish looks like that. 

[Guitarfish]

I could see stuck plastics causing a skinny fish, but deformed?  Still not buying it.  Not saying any one is wrong, just need to see proof before I'll believe it right.  

 

'Near the power plant'  haha love it, Spankey.

[Team9nine]

Agree that it’s not plastic ingestion causing this. Was likely pure coincidence that the one you opened up that looked this way also had ingested plastics, which will cause weight loss and possibly even eventual death. What is shown is referred to by biologists as DELT anomalies. The ‘D’ stands for deformities, one of four categories of health anomalies that get grouped together. Biologists do surveys and use the percentage of DELT anomalies in a population as an indicator of possible poor environmental conditions. There is always a low percentage of fish naturally born with defects, but a higher than background percentage might suggest some excessive environmental exposure to chemicals or other potentially toxic or physically deforming exposure (radiation, PCBs, estrogen altering synthetics, etc.).

[KayakJimW]

When young fish are exposed to certain parasites, similar deformities can also happen.  Check out Myxobolus cerebralis aka "whirling disease" found in salmonids.  Looks like a bass version of that maybe?  Personally I'd call local fish and game and give them a heads up considering multiple fish are showing the same symptoms, but your call there.  Just a thought...