FISH 423 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Habitat Destruction, Trematoda, Blood Vessel
21 Jan 2021
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Document Summary
Pictures from lecture slides on class canvas website. A newly-discovered didymozoid trematode infecting the gill of its first intermediate host, the bay scallop. Multiple germinal sacs inside a sausage-shaped structure in the host"s gill. Germinal sacs hold thousands of cystophorus cercaria. No name yet for sausage shaped object. Scallop is used as first intermediate host. Unusual to be in gills, usually in gonads. Gets nutrition by filling blood vessel with parasites and expanding them. Most use scallops as first host, then copepod, small fish, and predatory fish as the final host. Similar species found in hawaiian ladyfish as final host. Atlantic tarpon and ladyfish closest species in north carolina. Both have similar range throughout gulf of mexico. Scallop range overlaps in gulf and north carolina. When pictures were sent out, people on west coast of florida had seen similar parasites, samples had same base pairs. Lowered populations due to habitat destruction, overharvesting, unfavorable environmental conditions.
