UK: Salmon secrete substances that attract sea lice

Salmon secrete substances that attract sea lice. New research has enhanced our understanding of why sea lice are predominantly attracted to salmon. The study investigates the chemicals released by Atlantic salmon that serve as attractants to these parasites. The encounter between a salmon louse and its host begins when the louse is in its free-swimming larval stage, known as a copepodite. But being tiny organisms in a vast ocean, how do they locate salmon as their host? “Chemical signalling is believed to play a key role in host-parasite communication, and scientists have confirmed this,” says Nicholas Robinson from Nofima. Will enhance resistance to sea lice Robinson is coordinating the CrispResist project, which brings together a leading team of scientists from Norway, the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden and Australia. Their goal is to uncover the mechanisms behind cross-species variation in host resistance to sea lice and apply this knowledge to enhance Atlantic salmon resistance in ...