The females are parasites who inject themselves into a host and take over their bodies through a network of filaments, while the males are hyperparasites who inject themselves into a settled female and cease to exist as independent organisms through the degeneration of all tissues except the ones responsible for spermatogenesis.
Am I understanding that article right? Not only is the female a parasite on a different crustacean and loses all its libs and organs until it is just a sac with tendrils snaking through its host; but the male also attaches to the female while it’s in that sac state, and also loses all its limbs and organs until it is just a set of gonads? That’s the weirdest fucking lifecycle I’ve ever heard of.
I was not prepared to mentally handle the consequences of knowing what barnacles are
You’re not alone. Barnacles drove Darwin mad! https://youtu.be/plYuvU2VZkE
Same!
Even barnacles get worse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizocephala
Metal AF
Am I understanding that article right? Not only is the female a parasite on a different crustacean and loses all its libs and organs until it is just a sac with tendrils snaking through its host; but the male also attaches to the female while it’s in that sac state, and also loses all its limbs and organs until it is just a set of gonads? That’s the weirdest fucking lifecycle I’ve ever heard of.
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit
Life never stops amazing me, even if some things come out of the mind of a author of b-horror movie scripts.
The immobile crustacean is a parasite to the mobile crustacean!
Now I need to see an immobile plant that is a parasite to a mobile plant. Triffids excluded.
Sadly I believe there are none
Hey babe, new Last of Us dropped.