Plankton drunk on algae take life threatening risks
A tiny crustacean can tolerate an algae's toxin but it does cause it to indulge in risky behaviour
A toxin produced in red tides doesn't kill the plankton, but it is intoxicating
A common species of tiny, shrimp-like copepods found in the north Atlantic engages in very risky behaviour after consuming toxic algae found in abundance in algal blooms. The potent neurotoxin in the algae Alexandrium, which is responsible for notorious "red tides," does not seem to have any impact on the copepods' health or reproduction, but it does have other startling effects.
In a new study Dr. Rachel Lasley-Rasher, a marine ecologist from the University of Maine's Darling Marine Center, found that the copepods became intoxicated after eating the poisonous algae. But rather than stagger or slow down, they swam 25 percent faster, and moved in uncharacteristically straight lines.
This unusual behaviour may result in the plankton being much more likely to run into a predator and Dr. Lasley-Rasher is now interested in investigating if this has any impact on their population and abundance.
Related Links
- Paper in Royal Society Biological Sciences
- University of Maine release
- National Geographic story
- Smithsonian Magazine story