OK I did some digging through some pics from back in 2001 and I found the archive I made for that trip on disc.
So it's back from October 14 2001, and here's a better pic of the parasites in the fishes back.
So those I think are some kind of anchor worm. All you can see is the tail end with the gills and filaments. Inside the flesh is the bulk of the worm surronded by a hard shell like structure they build inside with kind of a T at the end to hold them in place. I've seen anchor worms in yellows and Dorado an number of times but never any that were even close to being this big.
Now the reason I'm posting this is ever since I caught that fish I've wondered if the oily tar crap was there because of the original injury in the fishes back or it was there as some kind of by product of the worms. I mean the tar was right in the same area but it was not part of the worm. I've looked around online for it and never found anything that described the same thing till your post.
I always figured the tar was from the the original injury and the worms got in there later. Now since your fish has had the same thing I'm starting to think the tar might be some kind of waste product that came from the worms.
In my fish there were several chunks like yours but bigger some almost half an inch long. So I got to ask were there any hard shell like tubular structures near the tar in the flesh of your fish or visble worms associated with it?
You got more guts then I do by the way. Once I saw all that shit in the fish and smelled that oily smell I tossed my fish, but then again I caught it in the PCB Capital of California so I was pretty concerned about the idea of some kind of contamination.
Man looking over those old pics got me going. Here's a C-Bass from the same trip.
The next weekend I got into wide open Albicore 14 miles off Avila...
Now that was a trip. No fish under thirty the biggest 46 and after we filled all our chests then we caught and released 35 and 40 pound fish for hours, trying to break the fifty mark. Epic fishing back then.
Great stuff: thanks for your post. I always wondered if anyone else caught a fish with tar inside.
Jim