Cancer Turns Up in Smallmouth Bass Caught in Pennsylvania River

Biologists are confirming the first case of cancer in a smallmouth bass caught in the Susquehanna River.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission said Monday laboratory tests confirmed the presence of a cancerous tumor on the mouth of one fish taken from the middle section of the river near Duncannon in Dauphin County.

Commission biologists say they've observed sores and lesions on many smallmouth bass in surveys of the river since 2005, but this is the first confirmed cancer.

Catch-and-release rules were already in place in the section of the river where the fish was caught.

Director John Arway says the commission will renew its request for the Department of Environmental Protection to add the Susquehanna to the list of impaired rivers.