PERTH: Scientists from the University of Portsmouth have found a new species of a brain-altering parasite. Marine biologist Dr. Alex Ford at the city’s university was behind the discovery of mphipod shrimps in Langstone Harbour.
Harbour found that the shrimps were infected with worm-like parasites that changed their behavior so as to become capable of swimming in the light where chances are high for them to be attacked and eaten.
The species has not been named yet. It is a type of parasite that resides inside a succession of hosts before birds eventually consume them. The bird’s feces then have the parasite’s eggs expelled, thereby getting a whole new life cycle to begin.
Published in Parasitology journal, the research made it clear that the shrimp became adept at swimming away from darkness and towards light due to production of a hormone, serotonin.
Scientists are striving hard to determine whether the serotonin is produced by the parasite or the shrimp’s brain chemistry is altered by the parasite’s physical presence.
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded the study, which mapped the population of the shrimp in the harbour over 18 months. The study helped identify the parasite as a previously unknown species.
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