What is it about?
Parasites may affect certain reproductive aspects in their host species. This paper examines if infections by two parasites (trematode and acanthocephala), more specifically their prevalence and infection intensity, affect egg production in reproductive mole crabs.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
This study's findings show that neither prevalence nor infection intensity (abundance) seemed to affect egg production in the Pacific mole crab species. This is important because mole crabs continue to reproduce and most likely maintain their natural populations, regardless of their infection status.
Perspectives
When we published our previous paper on the extent of trematode and acanthocephalan parasitism in mole crabs in Journal of Crustacean Biology, we reported that larger female crabs were significantly more infected than the smaller male crabs. This paper was the next obvious step in documenting whether parasitic infections affected egg production in female crabs. That neither species seemed to affect egg production in this crab species suggests that not all parasites castrate or lead to reduced fecundity in their hosts.
Ritin Bhaduri
California State University Stanislaus
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Infections by the trematode Microphallus nicolli and the acanthocephalan Profilicollis altmani in relation to the reproductive condition of their intermediate host, the Pacific mole crab Emerita analoga, Animal Biology, September 2020, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15707563-bja10038.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
