Fact Friday

Loxothylacus (Loxo for short), a parasitic barnacle, makes male mud crabs think they are female! The barnacle invades a crab that has recently molted. She forms reproductive sacs where the crab’s own eggs would be located. The crab is then manipulated into caring for the barnacle babies like they were its own. Learn more: http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=2585

Image Attribution: Undersea Parasite Impregnates Crabs, Male and Female. (2012, September 5). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from http://sercblog.si.edu/?p=2585

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