Katrina Lohan's blog

A Bite of Bitter Crab

Coastal Blue Crab
Blog Category: 
Guest Blog Posts
Marine Life
OP - Content Topics: 
Invertebrates
Ocean Portal Generated Tags: 
Crustaceans
Parasitism

Hopefully you've never bitten into a delicious hunk of snow crab meat and instantly spit it out because instead of crab you tasted... aspirin?! If you have, it might have been crab meat infected with a species of Hematodinium, a parasitic dinoflagellate that is the cause of Bitter Crab Disease in cold-water crab species.

Marine Parasites: Crazy…and Really Cool!

Parasitic Worms in a Fish
Blog Category: 
Guest Blog Posts
Marine Life
OP - Content Topics: 
Invertebrates
At The Museum
Microbes
Ocean Portal Generated Tags: 
Parasitism
Under the microscope

Marine parasites may be small in size, but they can be present in very high numbers and put together can weigh even more than all the top predators in an estuary or bay ecosystem! They play an important role in keeping their host population from growing out of control—allowing them to exert power over food webs and ecosystem function. High parasite diversity is even an indicator of a healthy ecosystem.

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