THE trematode parasite that makes banded killifish ill may be forcing them to take risks with predators to increase its chances of being passed on, according to researchers at the University of Leeds.
Infected killifish barge their way to the front of their shoal to get first shot at food. But their recklessness makes them more likely to be eaten by belted kingfishers—the parasite’s final host. Ashley Ward and his colleagues discovered the behaviour in Morice Lake in New Brunswick, Canada (Journal of Animal Ecology, vol 71, p 10).
The researchers speculate that the trematodes somehow manipulate the…
