Researchers have identified an invasive blood-sucking parasite on mud shrimp in the waters of British Columbia’s Calvert Island. The discovery represents the northern-most record of the parasite on the West Coast and is likely an indication of its ability to spread without human transport.
Orthione griffenis, a cough drop-sized crustacean native to Asia and Russia, has decimated mud shrimp populations in California and Washington over the past 30 years, causing the collapse of delicate mudflat ecosystems anchored by the shrimp. By the 2000s, it had reached as far as Vancouver Island. The discovery of O. griffenis at Calvert Island, described in a new study, represents a northward leap of more than 180 miles.
Scientists found the parasite during a 2017 bioblitz, organized by the Hakai Institute and the Smithsonian Institution’s Marine Global Earth Observatory, in which they intensely surveyed and documented marine life.
Invasive shrimp-sucking parasite continues northward Pacific expansion
Orthione griffenis, a cough drop-sized crustacean native to Asia and Russia, has decimated mud shrimp populations in California and Washington over the past 30 years, causing the collapse of delicate mudflat ecosystems anchored by the shrimp. By the 2000s, it had reached as far as Vancouver Island. The discovery of O. griffenis at Calvert Island, described in a new study, represents a northward leap of more than 180 miles.
Scientists found the parasite during a 2017 bioblitz, organized by the Hakai Institute and the Smithsonian Institution’s Marine Global Earth Observatory, in which they intensely surveyed and documented marine life.
Invasive shrimp-sucking parasite continues northward Pacific expansion