
New Species Related to Oyster
Parasite Found in Chesapeake Bay ClamsBy Don Comis May 30, 2000A new Perkinsus species has been
found living with the Dermo parasite that has decimated oysters over the past
several decades in the Chesapeake Bay. Scientists were surprised not only to find the new species, but to find it
on softshell clams--and to find it co-existing on the same clams with Dermo,
Perkinsus marinus. Such a double infection is rare for Dermo. Dermo had always been found only on the Bay's eastern oysters. It and the
parasite MSX affect about 80 percent of the Bay's oysters. Dermo kills oysters
by eating away at their digestive lining. Shaban I. Kotob and Mohamed Faisal, with Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS),
the College of William and Mary, in Gloucester Point, Va., made the discovery
and molecular identification along with S.M. McLaughlin, with the
National Marine Fisheries Service, Oxford,
Md., and Peter van Berkum, a microbiologist with the
Agricultural Research Service in
Beltsville, Md. ARS is the chief scientific agency in the
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Kotob, a
research assistant professor at VIMS, asked van Berkum for assistance in
identifying the new Perkinsus species, which has not yet been named. ARS
scientist van Berkum is an expert in classifying soil bacteria that help legume
crops such as soybeans make their own nitrogen fertilizer. In 1964, Bay watermen harvested 3.2 million bushels of oysters in Maryland
and Virginia waters and 650,000 bushels of softshell clams in Maryland waters.
In 1996, the combined oyster harvest totaled only about 220,000 bushels, and
Marylands clam harvest was down to 26,931 bushels. But the clam decline
was thought to be the result of overharvesting and predation, as well as high
salinity, high water temperatures, pollution, and other parasites. A few reports suggest that water pollutants may affect the spread of Dermo
and other parasites, but further research is required. Scientific contact: Shaban I. Kotob, VIMS, the
College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point,
Va., phone (804) 684-7413, [email protected];
or Peter van Berkum, ARS
Soybean and
Alfalfa Research Laboratory, Beltsville, Md., phone (301) 504-7280, or
504-6612, fax (301) 504-5728, [email protected]. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |