As pointed out by a very knowledgeable colleague, a handful of fish like this does not necessarily mean they are of bad stock. In fact it's a good sign that even though these fish may have had a disadvantage in feeding, they are robust in relative weight. The very few fish like this may even be easier to catch due to having to work harder to get feed into their mouths.

I get a handful of yellow perch, which I hatch myself every year, that exhibit scoliosis or lardosis but the rest of my stock are healthy and fast growing. It may or may not be genetic. One fish of this stock eclipsed the state record by 5 oz. and was a length that is in the top 1 percentile for state records.

So Cisco if I was you I would not be concerned.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.