AI Generated Image
A strange transmissible cancer is spreading through the catfish in this lake
NPR • • general
Key Points:
- In Lake Memphremagog, Vermont, researchers discovered brown bullhead catfish with unusual black streaks, later identified as a transmissible skin cancer spreading from fish to fish.
- Genome sequencing revealed that the tumors are genetically distinct from their hosts but closely related to each other, indicating the cancer cells originated from a single source and spread clonally among catfish.
- The mode of transmission is suspected to occur during spawning when fish cluster and potentially scratch each other, allowing cancer cells to invade new hosts.
- This finding adds to the rare examples of transmissible cancers in animals and may provide insights into how cancer cells metastasize and evade immune systems in humans.
- Researchers plan to investigate similar melanomas in other water bodies and suggest transmissible cancers might be more widespread than previously believed.
