Paramoebiasis
Paramoeba Parasite is a parasite that attacks the nervous system of lobsters. Lately, lobsters that have been pulled up in Western LIS have been dead with the parasite. Also, it caused almost all the deaths of the lobsters in 1999.
[http://www.bch.umontreal.ca/protists/paramoeba/taxonomy.html PID – Paramoeba Taxonomy]
[http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2000/06/20/woodside-lobster/ What's killing off lobsters in Long Island Sound? By Christine Woodside Grist | Main Dish | 20 Jun 2000] After a microscopic analysis of hemocoelomic viscera and nervous tissues was done, it was discovered that the virus infiltrated many regions of the lobster. The virus would infiltrate the nerves, cytoplasm of neurons, and nerve fibers. [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/H02-045.1}
Effect on Sea Urchin Population
Not only does the Paramoeba Parasite attack and kill lobsters, this parasite also attacks sea urchins.{{Cite journal|last1=Feehan|first1=C.|last2=Scheibling|first2=R.E.|last3=Lauzon-Guay|first3=J.-S.|date=February 2012|title=An outbreak of sea urchin disease associated with a recent hurricane: Support for the "killer storm hypothesis" on a local scale|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022098111005417|journal=Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology|language=en|volume=413|pages=159–168|doi=10.1016/j.jembe.2011.12.003|bibcode=2012JEMBE.413..159F |url-access=subscription}}{{Cite journal|last1=Feehan|first1=Cj|last2=Scheibling|first2=Re|date=March 17, 2014|title=Disease as a control of sea urchin populations in Nova Scotian kelp beds|url=http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v500/p149-158/|journal=Marine Ecology Progress Series|language=en|volume=500|pages=149–158|doi=10.3354/meps10700|bibcode=2014MEPS..500..149F |issn=0171-8630|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|last1=Feehan|first1=Cj|last2=Johnson-Mackinnon|first2=J|last3=Scheibling|first3=Re|last4=Lauzon-Guay|first4=Js|last5=Simpson|first5=Agb|date=April 11, 2013|title=Validating the identity of Paramoeba invadens, the causative agent of recurrent mass mortality of sea urchins in Nova Scotia, Canada|url=http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/dao/v103/n3/p209-227/|journal=Diseases of Aquatic Organisms|language=en|volume=103|issue=3|pages=209–227|doi=10.3354/dao02577|pmid=23574707|issn=0177-5103|doi-access=free}} In Nova Scotia, Canada, an outbreak of this parasitic species within the sea urchin population in 2011 caused the death of very large numbers of sea urchins.{{Cite journal|last1=Feehan|first1=C.|last2=Scheibling|first2=R.E.|last3=Lauzon-Guay|first3=J.-S.|date=February 2012|title=An outbreak of sea urchin disease associated with a recent hurricane: Support for the "killer storm hypothesis" on a local scale|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022098111005417|journal=Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology|language=en|volume=413|pages=159–168|doi=10.1016/j.jembe.2011.12.003|bibcode=2012JEMBE.413..159F |url-access=subscription}} The Paramoeba parasite has also been associated with multiple events of recurrent mass mortality in sea urchin populations along the coasts of Nova Scotia, Canada.