New Paper! The Emergence of Black Spot Syndrome In Caribbean Fish Over A Century
The Johnson Laboratory recently released a new paper, 鈥淓mergence of black spot syndrome in Caribbean reefs: a century of fish collections reveal long-term increases in Scaphanocephalus infection鈥, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. This study explores how Black Spot Syndrome (BSS) in Caribbean reef fishes has dramatically increased over the last century. This phenomenon, caused by the trematode Scaphanocephalus sp., is expressed through dermal lesions and pigmented dermatopathies on the skin and fins of herbivore fish.听
In order to study how the infection of Scaphanocephalus sp. has changed over the years, the authors used archived fish collections provided by museums as well as study contempory fish collected in similar areas. The results of this study found that infection rates have surged from <5% in historical samples (1905-1966) to 62% in modern fish.
You can read more about the fascinating results of this study .听