Specimen jar containing copepod parasites, which live on the body surface of salmon and in large numbers can cause damage to the fish
Principal Investigator
Project summary
- Focus: The life cycle of sea lice, in order to determine how to minimise their impact on commercial aquaculture
- Funding:
- Start date:
- End date:
We are studying the life cycle of sea lice, a prevalent and devastating threat to commercial aquaculture worldwide.
Whenever new fish are taken into marine aquaculture, sea lice are sure to follow. These parasitic copepods pose a major health hazard for finfish aquaculture globally, causing substantial economic loss when they strike fish farms.
We are researching sea lice in order to determine how to minimise their impact on commercial aquaculture.
We are focusing on:
- the life cycle of sea lice in collaboration with groups in Japan and South Korea
- revising the classification of sea lice using DNA sequence data
- building an online interactive identification key for sea louse species
We have already identified that the life cycle of the salmon louse genus (Lepeophtheirus) contains two fewer stages than previously thought, which could help manage infestations.
Sustainability
We are exploring new sources of food, predicting the spread of disease and finding scarce elements
Invertebrate research
Our scientists are investigating the taxonomy, systematics and biodiversity of groups of invertebrates
Zoology collections
Our zoology collection has 29 million animal specimens and is rich in voucher, type and historical specimens