E-Fauna Photo Gallery

Sylon hippolytes  (Shrimp Parasitic Barnacle)

Photo of Sylon hippolytes by Aaron Baldwin
© Aaron Baldwin (Photo ID #95868)

Photographer's Submitted Details

Photo Location Cholmandeley Sound, Southeastern Alaska Photographer Aaron Baldwin
Habitat Parasitic on caridean shrimps
Photo Date September 17, 2016 Upload Date September 19, 2016
Elevation (m)
UTM Zone # Latitude
UTM Easting Longitude
UTM Northing Photo ID # 95868
Notes This is the cosmopolitan rhizocephalan barnacle Sylon hippolytes. Like its relatives on crabs, the parasite enters the host as a cyprid larva then grows into a network of tendrils invading every body system. When the barnacle is ready to reproduce it produces a sack-like externae that is filled with embryos. The externae is on the abdomen of the shrimp where normally the shrimp's embryos would develop.


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