Research Product

Histological examination of over 6,600 individuals of the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica, inhabiting northern Gulf Coast estuaries revealed unencysted juvenile and possible adult stages of digenetic trematode, Proctoeces sp., infecting the gonadal ducts of the mollusc. Infection is the highest in oysters from Mississippi Sound near Pascagoula, Mississippi with prevalence peaking in later summer and early winter. The worm did not provoke a significant hemocytic response from the oyster. Oyster hemocytes were observed inside the digestive caeca of worms but there was no evidence of significant germinal feeding or gonadal impairment to the oyster. The hooked mussel, Brachidontes recurvus, found attached to shells of oysters may serve as first intermediate host and thus be significant in supplying cercariae for worms' opportunistic exploitation of C. virginica as surrogate intermediate host or final host.