Scientists are considering new management strategies
for whirling disease, which has been attacking fish in the West
since the early 1990s. The disease has spread from one Western
river to the next, eluding attempts at a cure and draining funds
from state game and fish department budgets. Trout get the disease
by eating worms infected by the microscopic parasite Tubifex
tubifex, which inhabits polluted waters. As the parasite feeds on
fish cartilage and nerve cells, trout chase their tails – or
“whirl’ – while feeding. Young populations of trout are most
susceptible. Although it was believed that once established in the
wild, the parasite could not be eliminated, new research has
scientists hopeful that’s not the case. “We don’t have a silver
bullet to make it all go away, but we’re starting to have research
that gives us a road map for dealing with the disease,” says David
Nickum, conservation director of Trout Unlimited in Boulder,
Colo.
Trout Unlimited researchers say the
parasite thrives in polluted rivers and in warmer summer
temperatures. Now, scientists hope to get trout to spawn earlier in
the year, before fish are at the greatest risk of
infection.
For a free copy of the 36-page
Whirling Disease in the U.S., write Trout Unlimited, 1500 Wilson
Blvd., Suite 310, Arlington, VA 22209-2404, or download the report
from www.tu.org/library/conservation.html.
*
Rebecca Clarren
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Wising up to whirling disease.
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