Fish in the lab!

After a year of pandemic induced delays, I finally have fish (and snails) in my lab! Yayyy! The fish species in the lab are Fundulus similis (longnose killifish) and F. grandis (gulf killifish). Both are known second intermediate hosts for the Euhaplorchis sp. A parasite, which is found on their brain. They are infected by free-swimming larval parasites called cercariae that depart the first intermediate host, Cerithideopsis scalariformis (ladder hornsnail). With both the first and second intermediate host in the lab, I will be able to do experimental infections of the killifish to determine how they response (either behaviorally or physiologically) to these infectious parasites in their environment. I studies a closely related system in California, and found that the killifish host wasn't happy when it encountered cercariae in their environment and am interested in testing similiar ideas here.