In 1981, the British Invasion band The Kinks' recorded the album, "Give The People Want They Want." On one of the cuts, the band sang about "Paranoia, the destroyer."
Today, those lyrics can describe want many bass anglers are feeling with the recent spike in spotted smallmouth bass caught on the Susquehanna River.
More accurately, what is being caught are bass with irregular black spots. While anything strange should be enough to cause concern among sportsmen, it seems these fish are neither strange nor unusual.
According to Mark Pisko, former Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission waterways conservation officer who was assigned in Northumberland County but now works in Berks and Schuylkill counties, said the situation has been known about for eight to 10 years.
"Our agency biologists monitor this very closely, but to tell you the truth, no one is really certain what causes the condition, but it seems there are plenty of theories," Pisko said.
As expected, those theories run the gamut from the dumping of mine pollution to industrial waste into the river. More recently, the natural gas companies that are drilling throughout Pennsylvania have become the primary whipping boys of conspiracy theorists.
In fact, there has been so much speculation about the irregular black blotches, the PFBC issued a statement Wednesday confirming that similar spots have been previously observed on fish from other waters in the state and that the spots do not appear to harm the fish. Because the spots are limited to skin discoloration, the fish are safe to consume under the state's general fish consumption guidelines.
"The condition is commonly known as 'blotchy bass' or 'black spot' and has been documented occasionally in various Pennsylvania waters since as early as 1980," said Andy Shiels, PFBC deputy director of operations. "In fact, in 1986, a nationwide survey found that the condition was present in 11 other states, including New York, Delaware and Maryland."
Late last year, the PFBC started hearing about the black spots from anglers. The spots are most often found on the head, lips, tail or fins. Melanin is a black pigment in the skin cells of fish and referred to by fisheries scientists as melanosis.
"While the appearance of these spots may be alarming, there is no harm to human health from consuming these fish," Shiels said.
Shiels said the condition has not been linked to specific pollution events. There is also no evidence that the blotchy bass condition is related to the young-of-year smallmouth disease issues in the Susquehanna River and some of its tributaries that the PFBC and other agencies have been studying since 2005.
PFBC biologists have documented the blotchy bass condition previously in Pennsylvania in the following waters: Susquehanna River, 2006 and 2011; Cowanesque Lake, Tioga County, 2003; Allegheny River, 1999; and Conneaut Lake, Crawford County, Presque Isle Bay, Erie County, Raystown Lake, Huntington County and other waters, 1980s. It was observed in New York's Hudson River during the 1980s, which resulted in a N.Y. fisheries biologist surveying other states about the condition.
According to several professional fishing guides on the Susquehanna River, this condition occurs in bass even in the most pristine conditions. This was confirmed by Jim O'Brien, Minersville, who managed the Bass Pro Shops store in Harrisburg.
O'Brien said that black spots have been observed on several fish in the store's aquarium - which is maintained to assure the highest water quality.