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Occurrence Of The Oyster Parasite, Haplosporidium Nelsoni, In The Damariscotta River Estuary, Maine, Nicole Messerman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Haplosporidium nelsoni is a protozoan parasite that causes the devastating disease MSX in the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, along the East coast of the United States. Until recently, H. nelsoni had not reached epizootic levels in Maine. However, in the summer of 2010, H. nelsoni was responsible for significant mortalities in cultivated Eastern oysters in the Damariscotta River Estuary. Since the initial outbreak, surveys performed by the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) show that MSX is still prevalent in the Damariscotta River Estuary. The industry remains concerned about the parasite levels with each new grow out season. In this study, …