Microscopic view of the "Barnaclesite"<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis slug which I will now refer to as a “Slugasite” will settle down in the crab’s underside where it forms a large bulb in the crab’s shell. As the parasite grows the bulb will also grow and can now be considered a knob like structure on the underbelly of the crab. Poor little crab! Interestingly enough each female parasite will usually carry two males along with her so they will constantly breed and produce new baby parasites.\u00a0 Yuck!<\/p>\n
This is the really fascinating part.\u00a0 The crab becomes a mindless zombie and will stop growing as well as moulting. All of this energy is directed to the parasite. This next part is genius on the parasites part.\u00a0 Remember that knob that the slugasite formed?\u00a0 Well it just so happens to be sitting in the exact same location as a healthy crab’s brood pouch.\u00a0 Normally the crab would keep their babies in this pouch and would constantly groom them so algae and fungi couldn’t grow (because having those parasites would be gross!).\u00a0 An infected crab though treats this parasitic knob like it’s baby.\u00a0 They will groom it and even help disperse the parasitic larvae by waving its claws to send the parasites through the water column.\u00a0 How depressing and messed up is this for the poor crab?\u00a0 By the way, that larvae she helped disperse will hang out and start the whole process over on another unsuspecting crab.<\/p>\n
Well that just about does it for today’s Parasitic Wild Fact.\u00a0 Stay tuned for another interesting fact tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hope all of you had a great weekend and managed to enjoy the fleeting days of summer (or winter if you live in the southern hemisphere).\u00a0 In case you forgot, this weeks Wild Facts will be dedicated to parasites.\u00a0 The previous two that we looked at were more of your typical “worm-like” parasites.\u00a0 Today we are going to discover a barnacle that infects crabs.\u00a0 Yes, you read that right.\u00a0 A barnacle like the ones you see on the side of a big ship.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this parasite looks nothing like the barnacles you find on a ship though (see picture <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024,276],"tags":[348,1051,1052,4025,275,1047,1050],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>