Salmon louse

Salmon louse
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Copepoda
Order: Siphonostomatoida
Family: Caligidae
Genus: Lepeophtheirus
Species:
L. salmonis
Binomial name
Lepeophtheirus salmonis
(Krøyer, 1837) [1]
Synonyms [1]
  • Caligus pacificus Gissler, 1883
  • Caligus salmonis Krøyer, 1837
  • Caligus stroemii Baird, 1847
  • Caligus vespa Milne-Edwards, 1840
  • Lepeophtheirus pacificus (Gissler, 1883)
  • Lepeophtheirus stroemii (Baird, 1847)
  • Lepeophtheirus uenoi Yamaguti, 1939

The salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) is a species of copepod in the genus Lepeophtheirus. It is a sea louse, a parasite living mostly on salmon, particularly on Pacific and Atlantic salmon and sea trout, but is also sometimes found on the three-spined stickleback.[2] It feeds on the mucus, skin and blood of the fish.[3][4] Once detached, they can be blown by wind across the surface of the sea, like plankton. When they encounter a suitable marine fish host, they adhere themselves to the skin, fins, or gills of the fish, and feed on the mucus or skin. Sea lice only affect fish and are not harmful to humans.[4]

Salmon lice are ectoparasites of salmon. In the 1980s, high levels of salmon lice were observed on pink salmon smolts. Salmon lice are found in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans; they infect pink salmon, Atlantic salmon, and chum salmon.[5]

  1. ^ a b Geoff Boxshall (2013). Walter TC, Boxshall G (eds.). "Lepeophtheirus salmonis (Krøyer, 1837)". World of Copepods database. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  2. ^ Simon R. M. Jones; Gina Prosperi-Porta; Eliah Kim; Paul Callow; N. Brent Hargreaves (2006). "The occurrence of Lepeophtheirus salmonis and Caligus clemensi (copepoda: Caligidae) on three-spine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus in coastal British Columbia". Journal of Parasitology. 92 (3): 473–480. doi:10.1645/GE-685R1.1. JSTOR 40058517. PMID 16883988. S2CID 41370981.
  3. ^ Christiane Eichner, Petter Frost, Bjarte Dysvik, Inge Jonassen, Bjørn Kristiansen & Frank Nilsen (2008). "Salmon louse (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) transcriptomes during post molting maturation and egg production, revealed using EST-sequencing and microarray analysis". BMC Genomics. 9: 126. doi:10.1186/1471-2164-9-126. PMC 2329643. PMID 18331648.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b "Sea Lice." Marine Institute. Marine Institute, n. d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <"Sea Lice". Archived from the original on 2013-12-14. Retrieved 2013-12-11.>.
  5. ^ Naturforskning. "Salmon lice on sea trout and Atlantic salmon". Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 4 February 2019 – via YouTube.