crome.org

One well hung crab

Rob and I were talking bout weird parasites. He told me about Rizocephala. This is a type of barnacle that, in its adult stage infects a crab, looses appendages, segmentation, and most organs. It attaches to the host crab, and grows like roots into the crab, centering on the digestive system. There is a bit of the barnacle that hangs out of the crab, its gonads. It grows in just the right spot shape and size to trick the crab into thinking it has a crab egg sack. And, crabs only molt after releasing their egg sack, so once infected, the crab never molts again. Oh yeah, and if this barnacle infects a male, well, the male treats the faux egg sack as if he were a female, and never molts again.