Paramoeba Parasite is a
parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
that attacks the
nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...
of
lobster
Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...
s. Lately, lobsters that have been pulled up in
Western LIS have been dead with the parasite. Also, it caused almost all the deaths of the lobsters in 1999.
Effect on Sea Urchin Population
Not only does the Paramoeba Parasite attack and kill lobsters, this parasite also attacks
sea urchins
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
. In
Nova Scotia, Canada
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Engl ...
, an outbreak of this parasitic species within the sea urchin population in 2011 caused the death of very large numbers of sea urchins.
The Paramoeba parasite has also been associated with multiple events of recurrent mass mortality in sea urchin populations along the coasts of Nova Scotia, Canada.
References
Veterinary parasitology
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