WATCH: The sickening moment huge worms wriggle out of fish
A fishermen was horrified to make the discovery of eight worms flailing about inside a fish he caught off Western Australia.
Alvin Lim shared a post on a Facebook page about fishing saying he caught a Yellowtail Kingfish off Rottnest Island and made the disgusting discovery of about eight worms inside it.
"Got a yellowtail kingfish off Rotto, and got a total of about eight of these worms from the flesh. Are they the same over east? Seem to be a common thing here in the west as it's not the first time," he posted on Facebook.
Video shows the worms squirming inside the fish.
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Associate Professor and expert in Aquatic Ecosystems at Murdoch University in Perth, David Morgan, told Yahoo7, the parasite is a roundworm or nematode.
"Ingestion of raw larval nematodes from fish (raw) can cause anisakidosis or infections – which is rarely reported from Australia," he said.
"There are possibly a lot of cases that go undiagnosed. Treatment is either by removing the nematode(s), or the nematode passes.
"The best preventative strategy is to not eat raw or only partially cooked fish. Nematodes are fairly prevalent in many species of freshwater, estuarine and marine fishes."
One person commented on the video on Facebook saying that it is quite common to see worms in that type of fish.
"Almost all big kingies have the worms," the person wrote.
Another person said "It's a west thing mate. They are pretty clean over east".
According to Seafood Health Facts, eating fish with parasites is only of concern if fish isn't "thoroughly cooked", just as Professor Morgan suggested.
"Just as there are risks to eating raw or undercooked meat, there are also risks with eating raw, undercooked, pickled, and lightly or cold-smoked seafood dishes," the site says.
