The chemical cues of male sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonisencourage others to move between host Atlantic salmon Salmo salar

Adult male sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis were more likely to leave host fish Atlantic salmon Salmo salar if they detected the chemical cues of other adult male lice than if they detect cues of female lice. The detection of both male and female chemical cues yielded an intermediate response. These...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Fish Biology
Main Author: Stephenson, J. F.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03347.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1095-8649.2012.03347.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2012.03347.x
Description
Summary:Adult male sea lice Lepeophtheirus salmonis were more likely to leave host fish Atlantic salmon Salmo salar if they detected the chemical cues of other adult male lice than if they detect cues of female lice. The detection of both male and female chemical cues yielded an intermediate response. These results suggest that males use chemical cues to balance competition for resources and mate acquisition, and they highlight the need for further studies of the chemical ecology of this important parasite.