“Scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center discovered that many mud crabs are infected with an invasive species of parasitic barnacle called Loxothylacus panopaei that are multiplying through this gender-twisting, reproductive system take-over, said Dr. Amy Fowler, a researcher at the Smithsonian“ (Pelton 1).
The parasites are originally from the Gulf of Mexico and are believed to have made its way into the Chesapeake Bay in the 1960s through the oyster trade. The parasites were stirred up from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico while the oysters were being harvested.
The female parasite can smell crabs while swimming through waters. They then attach themselves to crabs, male and female crabs alike, and make their way to the crabs reproductive system.
Works Cited
29 August 2012. Web. 19 September 2012.
This is a good beginning, but certainly expand to add some analysis here. With a short, 155-word post, you have plenty of room to draw out discussion. For example: what does that mean to the Chesapeake ecosystem when all the male mud crabs' reproductive systems are hijacked? Can they reproduce? How would this affect fishing and dining industries? Here's something I also wonder: Does the EPA force these industries to not sell these "hijacked" crabs? Do we still get them served? Is that dangerous?
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