EDUCATION + RESEARCH + CONSERVATION NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY NEW YORK AQUARIUM and OSBORN LABORATORIES OF MARINE cee Pat, Caney Mand Telephone: 2658300 prokiyn New ° ee . Misel, Febrag I 1¢, Wnt He worm heh Aus then hour Le ome Ady comin of [errscocciuom dereyutna conmunly Bed ope Js a oon of onary marine Woth Ctlenfe a ee EOG AE wel es, mk Die Es es ae Ln chu * hs 4 “4 &@ wt~m a lx FEZ Lio , Licked a Me ed chown Le m0, len nad 29 2alen a A Le ween malliog on Gy cake ip fe és en EE A ges oh, EO b £2 nm LAR ber, AdDArow Mle s KOVED pF Pd New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ’ Building 40, state University of New York Stony Brook, New York 11794 SJ Peter A. A. Berle, Commissioner March 1, 1978 Rabbi Meisels Central Rabbinical Congress 85 Division Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11211 Dear Rabbi Meisels: I have gone through the following books to determine the various relationshipsof the codworn to both the infected fish and man and the final host: Dogiel, V.A., G.K, Petrushevski and yu, I. Polyanski, 1961. Parisitology of Fishes ( Z. Kabata, translator). Oliver and Boyd. London Sindermann, carl J. 1970. Principal Diseases of Marine Fish and Shellfish, Academic Press. New York and London. Snieszko, Stanislas F. Editor, 1970. A Symposium on Diseases of Fishes and Shellfishes, American Fisheries Society. Spec. Pub, No. 5, Washington, D. C. Wise, John P. 1961. Synopsis of Biological Data on Cod, Gadus morhua Linnaeus 1758, FAO Fisheries Biology Synopsis.No. 21, Fisheries Division, Biology Branch, FAO, United Nations, Rome. I have also gone through my files and of reprints, letters and telephone communications. First, with regard to the codworm, a nematode, Terranova Porrocaecum = Phocanema) decipiens, and its effects on man. A Lane (an M.D. not a Ph.D) called me in October, 1963 asking whether or not the codworm was dangerous to man. He had a patient who had eaten broiled cod scrod which was not fully cooked and had ingested the codworm ana was fearful as to what might happen. As I recall, I told him that, to my knowledge, there has never heen a case of infection of man by the codworm. However, I asked him to check with Dr. Ross Nigrelli (a Ph.D not an M.D.) of the New York Aquarium's Vr PRec ne 7 one TRAC ph HERabbi Neisels March 1, 1978 Osborne Research Laboratory. Dr. Nigrelli is considered the world's foremost authority on fish diseases and pathology and their effects on man, At 11:00 a.m. October 9, 1963, I received another call from Dr. Lane. He had contacted Dr. Nigrelli and Dr. Nigrelli tola hin that: "These parasites have no effect on humans; that he has seen many cases and that they all prove negative because they are digested by the system and then disappear." The main problen with the codworm concerning man is that they are easily seen in the flesh of the infect- ed fish, do not look good and present a generally unacceptable food product esthetically, with no market value, While the most commonly infected fish is the Atlantic cod, the codworm has also been found in several other inshore marine fish. (Sindermann. (1979) cites papers showing the parasite in: ocean pout, smelt, plaice, witch flouné-r (also called grey sole), haddock, pollack and sea raven in the Atlantic? and: Pacific cod and a species of scorpionfish in the Pacific. Smelt, cod and redfish harbor codworm in the North Sea (off Europe) as do cod “and other species" from Greenland waters and the Barents Sea. ‘The life cycle of the codworm is not fully known, It is known that the definitive host (the animal in which the parasite matures and becomes an adult) is a seal. On our side of the Atlantic, this is the harbor seal. It is known that all the codworms found in fish are in the larval form (Dogiel et al 1961, Sindermann, 1970), Larval codworm vary from about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long (some larger ~ up to an inch) and is usually found in the flesh of the host. It is either pink, red or brown in color. It may be coiled or straight. Occasionally they become encysted in the flesh, In which case, they die and decompose leaving a red, brown or green lesion. They may also enter the liver (L. Margolis, in: Sniezko, 1970) and cause severe damage destroying liver cells and blood vessels. Infestation of fish off Canada (Sindermann, 1970) decreases as water depths increase and increase as fish size increases. Up to several hundred larvae may infect a single fish, Sindermann (1970) notes that the larvae may pass from fish to fish if infected smaller fish are eaten by larger fish. It has been suggested that the codworm first enters marine waters as eggs in the feces of the harbor seal. ‘These eggs are then eaten by small crustaceans (copepods, amphipods, etc.) and reach small fish when the small crustaceans are eaten. However, this hypothesis has not been proved. I hope that I have been able to describe the life cycle and effects on man and fish of the codvorm adequately. I am unable to determine what is the other, white, worm you described over the telephone. It could be a different nematode, a cestode, or a trematode. However, it most likely would be destroyed by cooking. I suggest you get in touch with Dr. Nigrelli or Dr. Ruggieri at the New York Aquarium at Coney Island. They may be able to identify and give you some information about it,Rabbi Meisels March 1, 1978 T hope that I have been of some help to you. Please feel free to call or write me with any other problems concerning marine animals you may encounter. f shall try my best to answer all questions. Sincerely, ia - Philip T/Brigge Associate Aquatic Biologist (Marine) PIB: jst