said Clarke, a postdoctoral researcher working with the British-based University of Cambridge’s Transmissible Cancer Group. In a paper in Nature, the researchers called the contagious cancer “a puzzling biological phenomenon” and warned of its “potential to devastate host populations.” And now the scientists out of Vermont and researchers in England are trying to figure out where the cancer originated, Dragon said. Dragon, in Vermont, says studying the diseased catfish could give researchers a chance to study how melanoma starts and grows. As for humans who may be worried about catching cancer from catfish, Dragon says it’s not a concern.