Parasites and cephalopod fisheries uncertainty: towards a waterfall understanding

Recent work provides strong evidence of the role of parasitic diseases as contributing predictors to the variability found in cephalopod growth and condition, from the molecular to population levels. Parasites (both micro and macro) impair the well-being of cephalopod populations by diminishing the nutrient absorption capabilities of infected animals. Parasites produce mechanical lysing of large areas of functional tissues and they also deplete energy stores, which are directed towards tissue repair and the host’s defence mechanisms. This review focuses on the impact of parasitic infection as an environmental stressor and thus as a source of uncertainty in cephalopod populations within an ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) model. An erratum to this article can be found at