Do ducks have known parasites?

[ZANARDI]

I went on my first duck hunt in about 20 years recently. We went on the upper Mississippi in Wisconsin. We had a great time. We saw and shot a lot of ducks over two days for this late in the season. We also saw hundreds of swans and Canvasbacks. Although not legal in Wisconsin this time of year they were very entertaining  to watch.

Anyway I was cleaning my ducks. One of the Shovelers I shot had small white dots covering the breast meat. They were very uniform in size and shape. They were shaped like a grain of rice and maybe 1/8" long. They were off-white in color. There were maybe several dozen spread out evenly on the surface of the breast meat. They were definitely on the surface of the meat, not the skin or the silver membrane laying on top of the meat. When I took the point of my knife it was very easy to lift each of the "dots" out in one piece.

I know it was not fat. I know what that looks like. None of the other ducks except this one had so much as one of these "dots". The duck it came from looked plump and healthy when I shot it. It had no signs of stress or illness.

Does this sound like a parasite of some type? I don't want to eat the meat from this particular duck if it is full of worms or something.

Thanks!

[Bill in IL]

zanardi,
I too saw this on the breast of a mallard I shot in Arkansas. I was told at the time that cooking eliminated any danger from this parasite. I chose not to keep the breast from that particular duck. I hope someone else weighs in that knows more about this.
Congrats on getting back out after 20 years.
Bill

[Sx2]

I've only seen a similar situation on some Bullheads (fish) up north, we fryed 'em up. If the duck was an isolated incedent, I'd probably not eat it. Why I ate the fish? Probably beer had something to do with it.  An individual critter is pre disposed to have health problems as much as a human. We just think all wild critters are pure because they are wild. Just dosen't work that way.

[Specklebelly]

I have not seen any parasites in waterfowl but I have seen a lot of geese die this fall of steel poisoning.  Something about BB's hitting them in the chest at 40 yards causes them to fall from the sky.     :-D
 :-D   :-D

Seriously, Zanardi I have never heard of the parasites in ducks before.  I have heard we have a lot of fish in OK caught with stuff similar in them but I have never seen it.

Just a thought, but you might shoot an email to your Wildlife Department and see what a waterfowl biologist says it is.  If you do, let us know what they say.

Happy hunting.

[Huntyeraws]

Yes,

It is called Sarcocystis (also known as "rice breast")

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/sarcocystis.html

I have seen it in pintails and teal here in NY.

[rockbilly]

As a game warden and hunter in the Port O'Connor, Tx area back in the early 60s, we ran across a case of "ricebreast" every now and then.  It didn't seem to infect as many birds as it does today.

Most people threw their birds away when they found it.  After my first bird, I made it a point to pull the skin away on the birds I plucked and inspect the breast.

I don't care if it isn't harmful to man, I just don't like the idea of eating it. :roll: