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However, not all parasites want to keep their hosts alive, and there are parasites with multistage life cycles who go to some trouble to kill their host. For example, some tapeworms make some fish behave in such a way that a predatory bird can catch it. The predatory bird is the next host for the parasite in the next stage of its life cycle. [12]
The name literally translates as "the fish louse with many children". The parasite can infect most freshwater fish species and, in contrast to many other parasites, shows low host specificity. It penetrates gill epithelia, skin and fins of the fish host and resides as a feeding stage (the trophont) inside the epidermis.
Some parasitic plants can locate their host plants by detecting chemicals in the air or soil given off by host shoots or roots, respectively. About 4,500 species of parasitic plant in approximately 20 families of flowering plants are known. [68] [70] Species within the Orobanchaceae (broomrapes) are among the most economically destructive of ...
“Ultimately, the parasite will explode out and infect others and kill the host, making it a parasitoid.” “A beacon of positivity” Smith is intent on uncovering behaviors never seen before ...
A perspective on the evolutionary options can be gained by considering four questions: the effect on the reproductive fitness of a parasite's hosts; the number of hosts they have per life stage; whether the host is prevented from reproducing; and whether the effect depends on intensity (number of parasites per host). From this analysis ...
Entamoeba histolytica is a pathogenic parasite known to cause amoebiasis, which is the third leading cause of parasitic deaths. [20] It is diagnosed by the assessment of stool samples. [ 21 ] Amoebiasis is caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with feces or other bodily wastes of an infected person, which contain cysts, the ...
A final or primary host is exploited by the parasite and is the only location in which the parasite is able to reach maturity and if possible, reproduce sexually. For example, Ribeiroia ondatrae uses ramshorn snails as its first intermediate host, amphibians and fish as second intermediate hosts and birds as definitive hosts.
The parasite is 0.5 mm (0.02 in) long, [2] and cannot be seen with the naked eye, but it can be seen with a magnifying glass. [6] On its posterior end is a haptor, a specialized organ for attaching to the host fish, which has sixteen hooks around its edge. [2] The parasite is viviparous, that is, it produces live offspring. [7]