I am living in NE PA right now, on a lake that has lots of warmwater species. I've been catching panfish recently and decided to keep a few for dinner. When I opened one up, inside the body cavity was a bunch of white worm like things. None of them were moving, so I tried to convince myself that they weren't worms. When I started to deskin the fish, I found another one, that was definetly alive. I've been looking on line at freshwater parasites and have been having trouble identifying these.  Any good way to id them and better still, are they safe to eat?

Thanks, Sparse

yes they are safe to eat. the parasites that infect fish are harmless to humans. deep fry em, there delicious

Cool thanks.

yes they are safe to eat. the parasites that infect fish are harmless to humans. deep fry em, there delicious

As long as they are cooked.

I don't know that specific parasite, but yes some fish parasites are harmful to humans if not cooked proper.

Update. Tape Worm? http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/service/library/index.php3?docID=52&docHistory%5B%5D=1

The particular worm you are seeing is more than likely a nematode (round worm). Now you have something that you can look up.

lol, just pick em out of the flesh,  if they look like a grain of rice, then i believe they are round worms, correct me if im wrong anybody.

The most common parasite I know of looks like a thumb clamped on the bottom jaw of a variety of fish, but it is found more often in the bass family.

Perhaps of interest:

http://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/fish_parasites.html