Orthione griffenis, or O. griffenis, eventually kills its host shrimp, and soon the remaining shrimp can’t find each other to reproduce, rendering a blue mud shrimp population extinct.

Researchers have identified an invasive blood-sucking parasite on mud shrimp in the waters of British Columbia's Calvert Island. The discovery represents the northern-most record of the parasite on the West Coast and is likely an indication of its ability to spread without human transport.

Arctic cod are a cornerstone of the Arctic food chain as a staple food of seals and beluga whales, upon which subsistence food gatherers rely in the region’s coastal communities.

If the cysts contain milky, white fluid, they are likely Henneguya, a harmless and relatively common parasite. But if they contain a larvae, they are likely tape worms which can infect people.

A parasitic isopod that scientists identified five years ago has all but decimated mud shrimp populations in coastal estuaries ranging from British Columbia to northern California - with the exception of a handful of locations in Oregon from Waldport to Tillamook.