Variation in spatial and temporal incidence of the crustacean pathogen Hematodinium perezi in environmental samples from Atlantic Coastal Bays.

Background: Hematodinium perezi, a parasitic dinoflagellate, infects and kills blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. The parasite proliferates within host hemolymph and tissues, and also produces free-swimming biflagellated dinospores that emerge from infected crabs. Infections in C.

Histopathological characterization and in situ detection of Callinectes sapidus reovirus.

A reovirus (tentatively designated as Callinectes sapidus reovirus, CsRV) was found in the blue crabs C. sapidus collected in Chesapeake Bay in 2005. Histological examination of hepatopancreas and gill from infected crabs revealed eosinophilic to basophilic, cytoplasmic, inclusions in hemocytes and in cells of connective tissue.

Physicochemical properties of double-stranded RNA used to discover a reo-like virus from blue crab Callinectes sapidus.

Mortality among blue crab Callinectes sapidus in soft shell production facilities is typically 25% or greater. The harvest, handling, and husbandry practices of soft shell crab production have the potential to spread or exacerbate infectious crab diseases. To investigate the possible role of viruses in soft shell crab mortalities, we took advantage of the physicochemical properties of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to isolate a putative virus genome.

Haplosporidian parasite in Diporeia spp. amphipods from the Great Lakes region, USA.

Light microscope observations of a haplosporidian in Diporeia spp. amphipods from Lakes Michigan and Huron, USA, found that the parasite spore is operculate and measures 8.1 microm in length and 6.

Prevalence of parasites in amphipods Diporeia spp. from Lakes Michigan and Huron, USA.

Amphipods of Diporeia spp. have declined considerably during the last decade in the Great Lakes. We examined the possibility that disease may be affecting these populations.