As title says, I doubt you can guess what type of organism this is:
Here's another one:
Chances are you guessed it's some kind of sea weed, or plant or whatever...
And you can't be more wrong 😆
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The thing depicted above is actually an animal! And technically it is a crustacean. Yes, a fucking crustacean! Even if it doesn't look like one!
Meet Dendrogaster, a genus of endoparasitic crustaceans belonging to the family Dendrogastridae.
Dendrogaster species can be found all over the world, parasitizing on the coelum of various sea star species:
The larva stage looks a bit like a "real" crustacean..
However, once they infiltrate a sea star the larva morphs into the elaborate shapes depicted in the first pics, with tentacle-like limbs.
We don't know much about the life of dendrogasters but it seems that all those "branches" mimic the gonads and digestive system of the host.
Slowly they shut down the gonads of the host and feed on it for sustenance.
On the outside, the host looks okay and only by slicing it open the parasite becomes visible.
Tldr. Yet another super creepy parasite!
Photo References
Posted Using INLEO
A crustacean that looks like a weird alien plant AND hijacks a sea star’s insides, nightmare worthy lol. Imagine slicing open a starfish and finding that inside, yeah man no thanks doing that haha got balls, big balls
how nice must be lose gonads for a parasite!
!PIZZA
🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣🫣
!pimp !bbh
To think there are people who deserve this name they're parasites, ready to take advantage of others without any effort.
I'm not a parasite, let me make that clear. I work, work, and work, but I DON'T let any parasites get close. Hahaha.
I wish you a happy weekend.
Smile, my friend.
A hug.
hahahaha
At first I thought it's a snowflake and then a coral. Turned out it's another scary creature. 😅
!BBH
!pimp
It's a creepy animal, and it sucks to appear well while that parasite slowly kills off your health.
!pimp
I would have never have guessed it!
:)
!pimp !bbh
come on thats not a crustacean lol! wtf!
It is. Don't blame me, I don't make the rules sir
Wow..
That's just wow😂😂
😎😎😎
!pimp !bbh
Is it just me or the name Dendrogaster is already giving you clues. Fucking dangerous gaster 👀
Dendro is Greek for tree which I guess makes sense :)
Makes perfect sense
I would say snow flake at first :)
You do realize that it looks like something else right…….
!pimp
Like you?
!pimp !bbh
Mhmm! This reminds of my biology lessons in high school.
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That is really awesome! Only a marine biologist would know that one! The oceans are full of funky stuff. Don't let that near your gonads...
!PIMP