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News Release 06-090

Lobsters Avoid Virus by Detecting Illness in Their Own Kind

Healthy animals shun sick ones

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Caribbean spiny lobsters are social and prefer to share dens, not always the healthy choice.

Caribbean spiny lobsters, like these young lobsters under a loggerhead sponge, are social and prefer to share dens. Infectious diseases can be more easily transmitted to animals in close proximity.

Credit: Rodney Bertelsen, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission


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Transmission electron microscope image shows the virus in spiny lobster blood cells.

Transmission electron microscope image shows the PaV1 iridovirus in blood cells of Caribbean spiny lobsters.

Credit: Jeff Shields, Virginia Institute for Marine Science


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