I would rather the seals just pack their bags and left the
northeast....or at least changed their diet from fish to seaweed.
Vegan seals....that would trim the colony down.
Sort of good news...but at the same time it gives me the creeps.
especially lines like this:
Quote:
Necropsies revealed that 406 dead seals were infested with a
crescent moon-shaped parasite that had destroyed their livers, but it
wasn't clear what the organism was or how the seals had contracted
the parasite.
|
then they go on to say that it is this strain of Sarcocystis ...
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by wikipeida
Sarcocystis is a genus of protozoa. Species in this genus are
parasites, the majority infecting mammals, and some infecting
reptiles and birds.
The life-cycle of a typical member of this genus involves two host
species, a definitive host and an intermediate host. Often the
definitive host is a predator and the intermediate host is its prey. The
parasite reproduces sexually in the gut of the definitive host, is
passed with the feces and ingested by the intermediate host. There it
eventually enters muscle tissue. When the intermediate host is eaten
by the definitive host, the cycle is completed. The definitive host
usually does not show any symptoms of infection, but the
intermediate host does.
|
Problem being we are mammals too. I know little about marine
biology....but as noted above some parasite life cycles cross over
from something to marine mammals(the seals). Like I remember
some worms that cycled between fish like halibut and seals....from
what I recall the worms were not harmful to humans. Comments
like the above seem sort of alarming.
Is the intermediate host fish?
Hopefully this parasite isn't being transmitted via fish and/or doesn't
have human liver on the menu.
yikes!
Hybrid Mode
