For example, a parasitic worm might live in a fiddler as a juvenile, yet reach sexual maturity as the parasite of a Great Blue Heron. Fiddlers are key players in marsh food webs. When a heron eats one, young parasites hitch a ride. Parasite eggs reach fiddlers via heron excrement. A more familiar case of a parasite that uses two hosts is a tapeworm, which a dog could get from ingesting its intermediate host- a flea.
Fiddlers are a productive species.
Shields has calculated population densities as great as 250,000 per acre at the Goodwin Islands. Sampling was done randomly within squares of marsh measuring one-half meter to the side. Sept. 18 to celebrate Virginia's estuaries. Estuaries Day '93 was a Saturday full of exciting, educational and enjoyable events about the estuary at the estuary. The day was co-sponsored for the sixth year in a row by the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Virginia and the park.