Parasite blamed for shrimp sex changes

Published on 21/08/2012 01:03

A GENDER-BENDING parasite has been discovered that is believed to be responsible for turning male shrimps and other crustaceans into females.

Scientists believe this could be a breakthrough for commercial mussel and oyster bed operations, which suffer major consequences from the sex-change problem.

Microbiologists at the University of Portsmouth have found that the new species of paramyxean is responsible for the changes previously put down to a parasite known as microsporidians.

But their research, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, has shown that the microsporidians simply “hitch-hike” on the newly-found parasite, which causes the sexual dysfunction in various types of crustaceans.