QPX, Quahog Parasite Unknown

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A Mysterious Disease Is Infecting Northeast Clam Beds . This Oceanus article examines Quahog Parasite Unknown, a mysterious new threat to the shellfish aquaculture business. Code-named QPX, the parasite is an obscure... (more info)
Guide to Bivalve Diseases for Aquaculturists in the Northeastern U.S.. This SeaGrant document (PDF) alerts aquaculturists in the northeastern United States to common diseases in marine bivalves as well as available means for preventing or... (more info)
New Genetic Test Can Detect Clam Disease Crippling Shellfish Industry and Threatening Aquaculture Operations. This Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute news release reports that a genetic test has been developed to detect QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown), a crippling disease... (more info)
New York Sea Grant's Hard Clam Research Initiative . This New York Sea Grant website hosts the Hard Clam Research Initiative, a program launched in October 1999 to investigate the population dynamics of hard clams in Long... (more info)
QPX Disease in Hard Clams. This New York SeaGrant PDF-brochure examines QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown, a disease-causing parasite) as it relates to the hard clam fishery in New York. It... (more info)
QPX Parasite Shellfish - New Jersey. This State of New Jersey fact sheet (PDF) briefly outlines the ecological and socioeconomic risks associated with Quahog Parasite X (QPX), a parasite that kills hard... ( This site is likely no longer available. )
Quahog Fact Sheet. This Rhode Island Sea Grant Fact Sheet describes quahogs, a type of shellfish, and their role in commercial fishery. It includes information about quahog physical... (more info)
Shellfish Disease in Aquaculture: Scientists, Managers, and Growers Take on the Challenges. This "Two if by Sea" newsletter article highlights proceedings from a workshop in 2000 that focused on shellfish disease, particularly as it relates to the aquaculture industry... (more info)
Synopsis of Infectious Diseases and Parasites of Commercially Exploited Shellfish: QPX, a Thraustochytrid-like Disease of Clams. This Canadian Fisheries and Oceans fact sheet features Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX), a protistan parasite of the commercially exploited hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria... (more info)
The Case of the Dying Quahogs . This Nor'Easter article recalls the discovery of the hard shell clam disease-causing parasite, QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown), along the coast of Cape Cod, MA in 1995. Similar to a murder mystery, this story follows... (more info)
The Massachusetts Bay Outfall. This SeaGrant fact sheet is designed to inform the general public about the disease-causing shellfish parasites Demo, MSX (Multi-nucleated Sphere Unknown), and QPX (Quahog Parasite Unkown). All... (more info)

Advanced Resources

Histological Analysis of an Outbreak of QPX Disease in Wild Hard Clams Mercenaria mercenaria in New York. This Journal of Aquatic Animal Health scholarly article assesses the extent and intensity of Quahog Parasite X (QPX), a disease found in hard clams in the fishery area area of Raritan Bay, New York... (more info)
Lethal marine snow: Pathogen of bivalve mollusc concealed in marine aggregates. This Limnology and Oceanography (PDF) scholarly article provides evidence of marine aggregates (such as marine snow and organic detritus) that facilitate disease... (more info)
Molecular diagnostics, field validation, and phylogenetic analysis of Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX), a pathogen of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria. This Diseases of Aquatic Organisms scholarly article (PDF) addresses earlier phylogenetic analyses that confirmed QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown) - a protistan parasite that... (more info)
Prevelance and distribution of QPX, Quahog Parasite Unknown, in hard clams Mercenaria mercenaria in Virginia, USA. This Diseases of Aquatic Organisms abstract serves as the first documentation of QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown, a parasite affecting hard shell clams) in the state of... (more info)
Protistan parasite QPX of hard-shell clam Mercenaria mercenaria is a member of Labyrinthulomycota. This Diseases of Aquatic Organisms scholarly article (PDF) reports that the Protistan parasite, QPX (Quahaug Parasite X) that affects the hard-shell clam Mercenaria mercenaria... (more info)
QPX Susceptibility in Hard Clams Varies with Geographic Origin of Brood Stock. This Virginia SeaGrant (PDF) document features details of a study regarding QPX (Quahog Parasite Unknown), a disease-causing parasites in hard shell clams. The 3-year study... (more info)
Observations of a Protistan Disease Similar to QPX in Mercenaria mercenaria(Hard Clams) from the Coast of Massachusetts. Smolowitz et al., 1998 This Journal of Invertebrate Biology scholarly article describes two separate occurrences of QPX-like parasitic infections that caused substantial mortality to 1.5-2 year-old hard clams... (Full Text Online)

Quahogs in the Classroom

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