Especially those that use herons and other wading birds. Many parasites have more than one host, he explained. 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.