Finally, as expected, because advanced Schistocephulus solidus infection is characterized by demelanization, they found the most dramatic changes in the demelanized threespine sticklebacks (Ness and Foster, 132).

             Based on the work of Ness and Foster, Arnott, et. al., knew that Schistocephulus solidus infection caused physical and behavioral changes in the threespine stickleback, which made them more susceptible to predators. However, Arnott, et. al., believed that infection could have positive effects on the threespine stickleback. They posited that Schistocephulus solidus infection could actually increase the size of the host. In order to determine whether or not the Schistocephulus solidus infection could increase the size of the fish, they isolated infected fish and provided them with the same amount of food in order to determine whether the threespine stickleback infection could cause an increase in growth. They discovered that the infected fish were larger than uninfected fish growing under the same conditions (Arnott, et. al., 662).

             However, the positive changes in body size did not correlate with other positive changes in the fish. Bagamian, Heins, and Baker posited that, despite the fact that the Schistocephulus solidus infection increased the size of the threespine stickleback fish, it would have a detrimental effect on the reproductive capacity of the threespine stickleback. In general, reproductive activities had a negative effect on body condition, especially in the female threespine stickleback fish (Bagamian, et. al., 1569). What the scientists discovered was that this decline in body condition increased in infected fish (Bagamian, et. al., 1574-1575). Furthermore, males and females responded differently to infection by the parasites; males were negatively impacted by mere infection; however females responded more negatively as the level of parasites in their system increase (Bagamian, et.