A team from the National University of Tainan and Japanese researchers have determined that a species of isopod found attached to shrimp near Yilan County is the first of its kind discovered in Taiwan.
The team, led by Department of Biological Sciences and Technology associate professor Huang Ming-chih (黃銘志), was joined by Japanese researchers Nobuhiro Saito and Michitaka Shimomura.
Fishers who first encountered the yellow parasitic isopod, which attaches just behind a sakura shrimp’s head, 10 years ago off the county’s Gueishan Island (龜山島) thought it was an egg sack.
Photo courtesy of Huang Ming-chih
The first recorded discovery of an isopod louse was in 1937 by Japanese marine biologist Sueo Shiino, who found one attached to a red shrimp in Suruga Bay in Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture.
The discovery of the isopod in Taiwanese waters is the second recorded discovery of the species worldwide, Huang said, adding that fishers call it a kernel of corn because of its size and color.
The parasite is detrimental to the fishing industry, as it tends to lower the value of shrimp, Huang said, adding that he in May last year began collecting samples for study because little was known about the parasite.
After reaching the initial conclusion that the isopods were Holophryxus fusiformis — the same species Shiino discovered — he took the samples to Japan for further analysis, he said.
The team, working with Saito and Shimomura, confirmed Huang’s findings after a year of testing and analysis.
The findings were published on Saturday last week in the journal Crustacean Research, Huang said.
The discovery means the isopod might have originated in Taiwan’s waters and reached Japan through the Kuroshio current, which moves clockwise in the Pacific Ocean’s northwest, he said.
If the isopods spread in large numbers, they could cause a major decline in the number of sakura shrimp, he said, adding that there was a 1 percent rate of infection among the shrimp in the waters off Yilan last year.
An increase in the parasite population last year might have caused the decrease in sakura shrimp numbers this year in Taiwanese waters and in Suruga Bay, he said, adding that the rate of infection is a world record.
The team’s findings also mark the first recorded discovery of sakura shrimp hosting a parasitic isopod, he said, adding that Taiwan and Japan must cooperate to monitor the situation and research marine life, including parasites.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS