Ecophysiology of the Fish Associated Dinoflagellate <em>Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum</em>

dc.contributor.advisorStoecker, Diane Ken_US
dc.contributor.authorCooney, Seanen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMarine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciencesen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2008-10-11T05:34:21Z
dc.date.available2008-10-11T05:34:21Z
dc.date.issued2008-06-30en_US
dc.description.abstractI assessed the occurrence of <em>Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum</em> on cyprinodontid and fundulid species in Maryland and Florida waters. Comparison of epibiont load across host taxa revealed <em>Fundulus majalis</em> as the preferred host of <em>C. cyprinodontum</em>. <em>Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum</em> infecting <em>Fun. majalis</em> reached a seasonal peak in epibiont load in summer in Maryland, and winter in Florida. Epibiont density decreased with increasing host (<em>Fun. majalis</em>) length, indicating smaller fish are more prone to colonization by <em>C. cyprinodontum</em>. Both numbers per fish and growth of <em>C. cyprinodontum</em> were influenced by light availability. Biomass based calculations of doubling time indicated that growth of <em>C. cyprinodontum</em> on fish gills appeared to be low at optimum irradiances, suggesting refuge from predation may be a major factor in driving this dinoflagellate to colonize the opercular region of fish. Finally, I documented infections in two previously unknown host species (<em>Fun. similis</em> c.f. and <em>Floridichthys carpio</em>)en_US
dc.format.extent650441 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8453
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledBiology, Ecologyen_US
dc.titleEcophysiology of the Fish Associated Dinoflagellate <em>Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum</em>en_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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