Mytilicola Intestinalis (Copepoda: Cyclopoida): A Ten Year Survey of Infested Mussels in a Cornish Estuary, 1978–1988

Abstract

The progress of the copepod Mytilicola intestinalis Steuer from obscurity in Mediterranean mussels, Mytilus galloprovincialis, to notoriety as the scourge of European blue mussels, M. edulis, has been well documented (e.g. Lauckner, 1983). However, a reputation as a pest in a commercially important species is not easily overturned and operators in the economic sphere must be expected to proceed with circumspection where their livelihoods are.at stake. In the UK, Parliamentary Orders still control the deposition and movements of seed shellfish in the attempt to contain the spread of the copepod.