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FaustGrenaldo t1_izibeli wrote

Reply to comment by like_a_deaf_elephant in Are there a lot more diseases for land animals than sea creatures? If yes, why? by Bored_Survivor

Just curious as to how a teaspoon of seawater can ' contain' so many viruses. I thought that all viruses need a host to survive? Surely, they're not just floating around in water, right?

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like_a_deaf_elephant t1_izich5a wrote

Well I'm a layman here, but there's the whole debate if viruses are even alive. I'm sure this generalisation is very wrong, but most viruses are fatty capsules of genetic material at the end of the day. They don't really need a host to survive - just to proliferate.

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oily_fish t1_izirodj wrote

They float around until they bump into a host. The majority of those viruses probably infect bacteria

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