brown bullhead catfish cancer

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What's driving the attention

Scientists discovered a rare transmissible cancer spreading among brown bullhead catfish in lakes across the US and Canada.

Researchers have identified a novel transmissible cancer affecting brown bullhead catfish populations in lakes in the US and Quebec. Unlike typical tumors, this cancer behaves like a contagious disease, spreading between individual fish. This unique cancer type challenges previous understanding of transmissible cancers and has drawn attention from scientists studying wildlife diseases and cancer biology.