All articles tagged with #brown bullhead catfish
Researchers report that melanoma in brown bullhead catfish from Lake Memphremagog is a transmissible cancer—the cancer cells spread between fish—marking the first known freshwater transmissible cancer and the fourth in animals; transmission routes are not yet confirmed, the spread has raised conservation concerns, and there is no evidence it can infect humans.
Scientists studying brown bullhead catfish in Lake Memphremagog found melanoma in 23%–37% of sampled fish, and whole-genome sequencing revealed that the tumors across fish are strikingly similar and come from a single cancer cell line, indicating a transmissible cancer—the first known case in fish and the first documented in a freshwater species. The route of transmission is not yet known (close contact during spawning is a possibility), and there is no evidence humans are at risk from these fish or the lake water.
Researchers in Vermont and Quebec have identified what appears to be a contagious cancer spreading among brown bullhead catfish in Lake Memphremagog, likely arising from a single cancer cell; more than a third of the fish examined carried melanomas, prompting scientists to study how such cancers transmit and what this could reveal about cancer evolution, while noting there is no evidence that it can infect humans.