Body-Snatching Barnacles and Zombie Crabs
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Posted by Alan Bellows on September 27th, 2005 at 11:27 am
There is no small number of unsettling parasites crawling, flying, and swimming about the Earth, the lucky ones hitching rides on hapless host organisms. And while many parasites are harmless, or even beneficial in their way, others can wreak havoc with their hosts' existence. The worst of these offenders can actually force their host to do their will.
A tiny barnacle called Sacculina is one such parasite. Upon finding a host crab, a female Sacculina will crawl over the crab's surface until she finds a chink in the armor: a joint. She then ejects her protective shell, reducing herself to a gelatinous blob, and invades.
Inside the host, the parasite grows long, root-like tendrils throughout the crab's body, eventually emerging as a bump on the its underside. During this process she renders the crab infertile, and creates a small opening in the crab's back that will allow a male Sacculina to make residence there. Soon the crab is filled with millions of Sacculina eggs and larvae, and like a zombie, the crab cares for these eggs and larvae as though they were its own, losing all interest in mating. When a male crab is infected, the parasite alters its physiology and behavior to be female, to better care for the Sacculina's young.
The parasite basically rewires the crab for its own ends, and the crab becomes a helpless vehicle, expending its energy caring for the young organisms that will move on to inflict themselves upon other crabs.
http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=53
Wow talk about attack of the zombies......crabs
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doesn't it remind you of that snail parasite i showed you guys the other day?
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Yeah but this seems moreOriginally posted by the Bear:doesn't it remind you of that snail parasite i showed you guys the other day? -
I was fishing the other day and we caught a mud crab.
there are many parasites on the crab shell. We can see it move. Threw it back and went to wash our hands... flesh eating bacteria.. eww.
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lol remind me of Half Life
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probably just barnacles..
once the crab sheds its shell, it'll be clean again
Originally posted by Pitot:I was fishing the other day and we caught a mud crab.
there are many parasites on the crab shell. We can see it move. Threw it back and went to wash our hands... flesh eating bacteria.. eww. -
Hope you are alrightOriginally posted by Pitot:I was fishing the other day and we caught a mud crab.
there are many parasites on the crab shell. We can see it move. Threw it back and went to wash our hands... flesh eating bacteria.. eww. 
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clean for eating ?Originally posted by the Bear:probably just barnacles..
once the crab sheds its shell, it'll be clean again They taste good anyway 
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I don't think you can see the flesh eating bacteriaOriginally posted by Pitot:I was fishing the other day and we caught a mud crab.
there are many parasites on the crab shell. We can see it move. Threw it back and went to wash our hands... flesh eating bacteria.. eww. -
chances of seeing it is rare?Originally posted by elindra:I don't think you can see the flesh eating bacteria -
the flesh eating bacteria is reference to the article on straits times.Originally posted by elindra:I don't think you can see the flesh eating bacteria
right after we got home.. i picked up the morning newspaper and there was the big picture of the mud crab on the front page.. i never washed my hands so clean before. -
Does that means that when u do certain things..u wash only a little to preserve the smellOriginally posted by Pitot:the flesh eating bacteria is reference to the article on straits times.
right after we got home.. i picked up the morning newspaper and there was the big picture of the mud crab on the front page.. i never washed my hands so clean before. -
...Originally posted by crofty:Does that means that when u do certain things..u wash only a little to preserve the smell 
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u know what I meanOriginally posted by Pitot:... -
seriously no?
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it is ok then..figure it yourselfOriginally posted by Pitot:seriously no? -
ok come back to this topic..got any other creatures that are like that?
wish to know(besides crabs) -
