Meeting Abstract
Loxothylacus panopei is a rhizocephalan parasite that infects marine, panopeid mud crabs such as Rhithropanopeus harrisii and Eurypanopeus depressus. The life cycle of the parasite is complex and may be influenced by environmental factors at key stages in its development. In the first stage, as non-parasitic nauplii, L. panopei is more susceptible to changes in salinity than at other stages in the life cycle. The purpose of our experiment was to expand upon previously tested salinities to determine the survival of L. panopei nauplii across a full range of salinities. The nauplii were exposed to increasing water salinities in increments of 5 ppt in a range of 5-30 ppt. Over a one-week period, nauplii mortality was recorded until all metamorphosed into cyprid or perished. Our analysis determined that nauplii survived better at high salinities.
