Because of these treks, the young salmon enter the ocean several months before the adults and their parasite passengers return. Salmon are known for their massive and demanding migrations in order to mate and lay eggs. Martin Krkošek and colleagues from the University of Alberta believe that salmon farming may be disrupting behaviour that evolved in salmon to protect their young from parasites. But the real problem comes when infected farmed salmon pass their parasites onto wild fish. Farmed salmon are often infested with sea lice, parasitic relatives of prawns and shrimp, that cause direct damage, starve their host and increase vulnerability to disease. Large, crowded and trapped animal populations are an easy target for parasites, and salmon farms are no exception. But the biggest and most immediate problem may be to do with the spread of parasites.
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