A Survey for Prevalence of Paramoeba spp. in Blue Crabs along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts
Paramoeba perniciosa is a parasite that has been found in blue crabs Callinectes sapidus from coastal embayments from Florida to Connecticut and has been associated with mortalities in crab shedding facilities in coastal bays of Maryland and Virginia. Hemolymph samples from more than 7300 crabs over a 9-year period from the Gulf (N = 228) and Atlantic (N = 7167) coasts of the United States revealed 0.5% of crabs assayed to be infected by P. perniciosa. Infections were limited to crabs collected from Virginia to New Jersey; Rehoboth Bay, Delaware, had a considerably higher prevalence than...
