What do you call the worms I see in Mackerel & Pollock guts?

What do you call the worms I see in Mackerel and Pollock guts? Are they harmful to humans?

What do you call the worms I see in Mackerel and Pollock guts? Are they harmful to humans?

I call them worms they are a bit off putting but i dont think they will do you any harm, cooking will kill most parasites, just dont use them for sushi lots of fish have them cod, haddock,and especially gurnards have lots of them (crunchy curly ones) under the skin and in the flesh just pick them out with the tip of the filleting knife

Protein

[The Austrian]

Round worms, or Nematodes, in larval form are found in the guts and in the flesh of many fish around Ireland; two kinds predominate, the 'cod worms' (Phocanema) and the 'herring worms' (Anisakis).
Phocanema is usually more abundant in inshore fish, whereas Anisakis occurs in greater numbers in offshore fish.
Phocanema and Anisakis larvae are killed in 1 minute at a temperature of 60°C or over. The temperature of a cold smoking process is not high enough to kill parasites. Freezing of fish at - 20°C for 60 hours kills all worms. Anisakis larvae are resistant to salting and also to marinating. When there is any doubt about whether Anisakis will survive a process it is safest to use frozen fish. The ability of Phocanema to withstand salting or marinating is not known, but it is probably similar to that of Anisakis.
There have been cases of human illness caused by the ingestion of live Phocanema or Anisakis larvae in countries where raw or lightly cured fish is commonly eaten.
That's it in short, more info can be found here: http://www.fao.org/wairdocs/tan/x5951e/x5951e01.htm

Last edited by The Austrian on Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:02 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks a lot Austrian. Very good info.

i find if the mackerel are for the pan then gutting and filleting was you catch em is the best way to get rid of the worms as if they are left with guts intact the worms migrate into the flesh.

Thats good info there but are we not meant to freeze to the fish intact if its not been eaten asap?????