Speaker: Reyn Yoshioka, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, University of Oregon

Topic: Parasitic pretender: are rhizocephalan-infected shrimp still shrimp?

In the parasite world, rhizocephalans are notorious for their pervasive impacts on their crustacean hosts. Pandalid shrimp, which are important prey for other marine species and valuable fisheries along the North American west coast, are infected by the rhizocephalan Sylon sp. In Friday Harbor, Washington, Sylon was found to infect a great proportion of local dock shrimp Pandalus danae. Reyn will share the diverse ways this rhizocephalan changes the biology of dock shrimp, from the epibionts growing on the surface of the shrimp to the fatty acid changes within. These results beg further questions of how this parasite's effects on its host may trickle through food webs, affect local fisheries, and expand our notions of a parasite's role in its ecosystem.

Link: https://oregonstate.zoom.us/j/94555731151?pwd=RnJ6eVg0ODdzRUpVc0pQbUlIdUV3dz09