Metacercariea in blue mussel (M. edulis) with and without experimental crab presence (transmission experiment, two hosts)

In this study, we examined how chemical cues from a predatory marine crab affect the transmission of a parasitic trematode from its first (periwinkle) to its second (mussel) intermediate host. We collected the data in a laboratory experiment. Here, snails (Littorina littorea) infected with a parasite (Himasthla elongata) were kept in two different treatments (with predation risk and control). Subsequently, the excreted cercariae were collected as data. The experiments were conducted at the Wadden Sea Station of the Alfred Wegener Institute in List, Sylt, Germany. We sampled the snails at the the Danish coast of the Baltic Sea (Jütland, Arosund; 5515'45.8'N 942'39.2'E). Snails had a shell height of 14-18mm corresponding to an age of two years. Infection status were screened at the laboratory. The crabs for the predation cue were sampled at the Oddewatt, List Sylt (German, Wadden Sea). Only male crabs with a size og 20-30mm catapace width were sampled. The blue mussels were sampled at the west coast of Sylt (Wenningstedt beach) were trematode infection do not occur naturally (confirmed by screening 50 mussels). Mussel shell length wars 25-30mm.