#parasites ecosystem

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I can't believe people would slander ocean sunfish for having a lot of parasites. Uh, hello?? Every animal in nature has parasites dipshit, it came free with living in an ecosystem

[garudabluffs]

...the term"parasite" encompasses everything from viruses and bacteria to fungi and protozoa all the way up to the multicellular parasites, the animal parasites.

Why losing parasites could have devastating effects on our ecosystem

CHELSEA WOOD: The word parasite evokes for me this beautiful netherworld of organisms that most people are unfamiliar with, that exists just under the surface of everything that's familiar and that are beautiful. They play by their own rules. They do things that are out of a sci-fi movie. And yet they're more common than pretty much any other organisms that surround us.

CHAKRABARTI: Wow. Well, Chelsea Wood is an associate professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. And Professor Wood does study parasites. So I'm delighted to have you today because in a sense, the fact that parasites occupy this netherworld as you talk about, means that we need to pay more attention to them. So first of all, let's start with some of the basics. When we see parasites, how should we define them? What part of the kingdom of life are we talking about?

C.W. "I define parasites as organisms that live in or on a host and cause that host a fitness class basically.

They take energy from their host, and that means that the term parasite encompasses everything from viruses and bacteria to fungi and protozoa all the way up to the multicellular parasites, the animal parasites. And that means that they can take a whole variety of different body forms.

WOOD: Exactly. Yeah. So there are three different kinds of symbionts things that live in or on a host. One are the parasites and they're the ones that are causing a fitness class. One are the mutualist who cause a fitness benefit to their hosts. Think anemones and clownfish have a mutualistic relationship with one another. The clownfish live inside the anemone, and they provide fitness benefits to that anemone host. And then there are these organisms that sit in the middle, commensals, which cause no impact on their host fitness. So parasites are defined by their negative fitness impacts on their hosts."

CHAKRABARTI: Is there a place on the planet Earth where there are no parasites?

WOOD: As long as there is life, there will be parasites. Anywhere where you can find organisms, there will be parasites on them.

And evolution has sculpted parasites to manipulate their prey hosts to make them clumsier more reckless, slower, in order to make them likelier to be preyed on by the predator. And therefore, for the parasite to be successfully transmitted to that predator host."

LISTEN 47:20 READ MORE Transcript https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/03/13/save-the-parasites-healthy-ecosystem

[yellydany]

ARROWBIRD (Taenia Somavis)🏹 🔻

"A flatworm-like species that has adapted to mimic the Birdcages (another hunting species) for self defense and intimidation. They display more aggression than the latter and live in colonies. Instead of capturing their prey alive they shape their wings and body to achieve a better flight like a hang glider and then dive in to attack from the heights. In form they are thin and large, often surpassing the 20 ft. If they feel threatened or are attempting to assert dominance they will likely flash between black, white and blue hues to puzzle any foes

While endoparasitic, the Arrows (as commonly named) don’t need a host to survive and normally such behavior applies to the younger, growing larval forms (which are born through hermaphroditic means) that absorb nutrients with the scolex"𓆙 (Birdcage here for those curious!)

[mortemilla]

odo sketches

[cowardlybean]

your assignment is to think about seasoning city. can you do it

[sincerely-sofie]

ARE YOU MAYHAPS GETTING A TARANTULA?? 👀

(referencing this)

Nope! While I would love to have a tarantula (or a jumping spider even more!) and love their personalities, their faces freak me out, and I hate the fact that I'd have to keep a stock of live food for one. Crickets... I hate crickets so much... The flashbacks are returning...

[changeling-droneco]

You know I wonder how much of the ecosystem would collapse if humans just vanished, like I know removing say, ticks, would basically fuck everything over. I just wonder how far that goes with humans with our own parasites and the like. I’m wondering this because I’m thinking about how much I hate “humans are an invasive species” content, so now I’m wondering how far the damage would go if humans did in fact, just vanished, because suddenly a lot of parasites lose a potential host, ticks and mosquitos lose a large source of potential blood and that has to have ramifications on the environment right?

Like just take lice, humans are a pretty common host, or ticks! I feel like a lot of people forget this part of human existence in nature, which is that we’re food for a lot of stuff, even if it’s kinda gross to think about.

[the-composer]

[mossterunderthebed]

[blackvahana]

i love seeing (certain) people bitch about parasites and its like. yeah. now youre rousing the urge to infect you with them

[shinkai-kaiju]

if theres one thing im a huge sucker for, it's monster ecology. Monster hunter sometimes misses/goes for the rule of cool and "if the monster looks bad its probably dangerous and we should kill it NOW" and like. sometimes loses me. But sometimes they're fucking spot-on with designs and lore and ecological interactions.

[starpros-sunshine]

Do you ever think about how everything in nature is so deeply and intrinsically connected and everything has it's purpose and then there's humans and we don't really contribute anything beneficial we do quite the opposite actuallly

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I just wanted to say that your blog brings me so much joy! I often see a funky fish/aquatic life post on here and just nod my head in agreement or just feel joy about the beauty of all creatures and it's almost always a post reblogged/posted by you! Even animals that I would've considered 'scary' before... now I just look at the worms etc and feel excitement (because your passion is contagious), thanks! <3

This is such a nice thing to say, thank you thank you very much!! I’m glad that the enthusiasm sticks because it really is just so fun to discover new creatures and learn about them! :D I used to have many more “prejudices” against undesirable organisms when I was a teen, but I’ve been slowly unlearning them and tried to replace them with curiosity instead, just thinking about how insane it is that all these creatures exist and that they exist the way they do and behave the way they do and how their experiences are so different from ours yet we all came from the very same origins. It’s working quite nicely! The world is so full of interesting and surprising creatures and there’s always so much to find and discover and wonder about!!! Nature is a beautiful cocktail of millions of years of evolution with billions of organisms to unearth (sometimes literally)!!

Not to go on a tangent (I will) but I think being in an environment where no creature is too unsightly or somehow horrible for being alive but is instead interesting and valued really aids in that. I was always a fish-and-arthropods-loving girl, but in my time at my uni I’ve learned to appreciate many more organisms a whole lot more thanks to passionate lecturers and fellow classmates! I never knew I’d come to love and appreciate parasites, for example, but one of my professors is so passionate about aquatic parasites specifically that it was just way too contagious! Sharing passion is the best ever and I won’t stop any time soon >:DD

[blujayonthewing]

crucial to me that you understand that this happens right before laios tries a little raw bite of the giant parasite they all cooked and ate like a fish

[muchmossymess]

I love when they kill anything you know the next step is figure out how to best eat it

[relatablemarine]

Myxozoa is the smallest and most unusual member of the phylum cnidaria. These microscopic relatives of jellyfish gave up their free-swimming lifestyle for something a little more sinister - parasitism.

The young actinospores enter their intermediate host, often fish through the gills. After maturing and multiplying the adult forms exit the fish to be consumed my marine worms, the definitive host. The adult myxospores then breed and start the cycle anew. Like most parasites who are not spread by their host being consumed by another creature a myxozoa infection will not often result in death of the host. However, there are some members of this subphylum that will cause distress to their fishy hosts. Salmon, for example can experience both proliferative kidney disease (PKD) and  whirling disease from specific species of myxozoa parasites.