Salmon Louse

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The salmon louse, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, is a species of copepod in the genus Lepeophtheirus. It is a sea louse, a parasite living on salmon. It lives off the mucus, skin and blood of the fish. There has been some research on the problems caused by this species in aquaculture, but little is known about the salmon louse's life in nature. It has been shown, however, that salmon louse infections in fish farming facilities can cause epizootics in wild fish. The first two stages are free swimming nauplius I and II, where it has a length between 0.54 and 0.85 mm. The third stage is the copepodit stage, in which the length is ca. 0.7 mm, and the salmon louse attaches itself to the fish.