Sylon hippolytes
(Shrimp Parasitic Barnacle)
© Aaron Baldwin (Photo ID #95867)
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)
Latitude
Longitude
Photo ID #
95867
Comments
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.