Blue mussels may help control sea lice in salmon farms,
according to a study by UMaine. (Photo: Stock File/FIS) UMaine
researchers make key discovery on lice infestation Friday, April
29, 2011, 04:10 (GMT + 9) University of Maine researchers have
published a paper in which they demonstrate that the blue mussel
can eat larvae of the sea louse, a parasitic pest that has
recently made a comeback on fish farms, decimating populations
of farmed finfish. The findings were published recently in the
journal Aquaculture and have implications for the farmed salmon
industry in Maine. If further analysis in the field holds up,
the use of mussels on salmon farms could be another disease
management strategy for reducing the infectious pressure of sea
lice in a finfish farm. Postdoctoral researcher Sally Molloy, a
microbiologist in UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, made the
discovery last summer along with graduate student Michael
Pietrak. Ian Bricknell, the Libra Professor of Aquaculture
Biology and director of UMaine’s