College Profile 2023

identified several possible reasons — overfishing, declining water quality, global climate change and environmental degradation. Caribbean spiny lobsters live in coral reefs, and many coral reefs in the Florida Keys and Caribbean are dying at dramatic rates. The tiny ribbon-like worm Baeza discovered also could contribute. “A whole industry and coastal communities along the entire Caribbean basin rely on this species of spiny lobster,” says Baeza, who came to Clemson in 2013 after spending time conduct ing research at the Smithso nian Tropical Research In stitute in Panama and at the Smithsonian Marine Station in Fort Pierce, Florida. Preliminary research shows the worm, the first species of Carcinone

mertes reported to infect the P. argus or any other lobster species in the Caribbean and the western Atlantic Ocean, negatively affects brooding females’ reproductive performance. Baeza and his students are conducting research into the parasite’s behavior, including how it eats the eggs and mates. In addition, they are trying to ascertain how climate change and pollution effects could differ for the parasites and the host lobsters. “The more we know, the more those managing the fishery can minimize the adverse effects,” Baeza says. The Florida Keys isn’t the only place worms belonging to the genus Car cinonermertes live. Baeza discovered a new species off the Chilean and Peruvian coast in 2021.

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CLEMSON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SCIENCE | 2023 COLLEGE PROFILE