Dr. Tianyi Chang analyzed RNA from three species of sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis, Caligus clemensi and Caligus rogercresseyi) that have a large ecological and economic impact on fish and fisheries. The data were obtained from sea lice removed from out-migrating juvenile salmon collected in the waters surrounding the Discovery Islands and Broughton Archipelago on the northeastern side of Vancouver Island, as well as from farmed salmon in Chile.Sea lice are a big problem for the fish aquaculture industry worldwide due to their proliferation among dense populations of farmed fish. Chemical treatments have failed to solve the problem.

 

Viruses tend to kill species that flourish, so populations that might otherwise take over an ecosystem are often controlled by viruses. By infecting and weakening their hosts, viruses maintain balance in nature.The viruses encompassed all the major groups of RNA viruses, with many likely representing new families and genera. Surprisingly, the closest relatives of some of the newly discovered viruses are only known to infect plants or fungi. This implies that over evolutionary time, viruses jumped between fungi and arthropods, a group of animals that includes crustaceans such as sea lice and crabs, as well as spiders and insects, the researchers said.