What is Sea Lice?
The term “sea lice” is used to refer to two very different groups of marine organisms. In the first sense, sea lice are parasites which attack fish, especially salmon. In the second sense, sea lice are actually the larval form of organisms like jellyfish and sea anemones. Both are of interest to humans, for very different reasons. In terms of parasites, sea lice can be found attacking fish all over the world. Some fish manage to cope just fine with these copepods attached to them, but smaller fish are vulnerable. If a parasitic infestation is severe enough, the sea lice can cause an infection or even kill the host organism. Sea lice are an especially common problem with farmed fish, leading some fish producers to use specialty chemicals in the water to deter sea lice from their fish. Fish which escape from farms can also carry a payload of parasites including sea lice which infects native fish species. The “sea lice” of interest to swimmers are the larvae of marine animals with stingin
