Tropical Disease Ecology in Callinectes spp.: Assessing Environmental Factors and Pathogen Prevalence in Puerto Rico

This study screened five species of swimming crab from Puerto Rico for a parasitic dinoflagellate (Hematodinium perezi) and three viruses, reporting the first detections of H. perezi in four Callinectes species and extending its known range into the Caribbean. Salinity and temperature emerged as consistent predictors of infection across both temperate and tropical systems, and H. perezi was found to co-occur positively with the virus CsRV2 — a possible interaction between the two pathogens.