Sacculina

An infested Sacculina crab with typical baggy outgrowth Ernst Haeckel's Art Forms in Nature, 1904.

The blind crayfish ( Sacculina ) are parasites from the order of barnacles. As hosts serve crabs ( Decapoda ); the food supply is via a root- like weave that forms the parasite inside the host animal, while the reproductive organs grow in a sack-like protuberance on the underside of the host.

Life and behavior

The adult animals show no similarity to other barnacles such as barnacles or barnacles, but can be unambiguously assigned to order through their larval stages.

The female larva of Sacculina ( Cypris ) looks great on a crab and tried to settle down in a hollow at the base of the bristle crab carapace. She then molts to Cyprispuppe and penetrates with the cannula-like arrow of Kentrogons into the host a. The female Sacculina larva grows (International ) inside the crab and also forms a sac-like protrusion on the outside of the host ( topical ) - typically at the site of the posterior thorax, where the crab incubating her eggs. The topicals includes a breeding sack the reproductive system of the animal, the internals first forms a nucleus and grows into a tangle of roots approach, the umspinnt the surface of the intestine, midgut gland, muscle and gonads of the host; it is the absorption system. Both parts are connected by a stem portion.

If a female Sacculina larva a male crab attacks, they actively changed their hormonal balance and tries the male crab " reverse the polarity " on a female specimen. First, the male crab is sterilized in the later stages of the abdomen is changed. It has been observed that male crabs, which were infested with Sacculina, the mating rituals of female crabs imitated.

After the infestation of Sacculina the crab loses the ability to molt and grow with it. Due to the nutrition and growth of the crab Sacculina larva also loses the ability of their large claws, which mainly serve for the defense to re-form. The eating habits are changing and are similar to those of female crabs to.

Reproduction

The Cyprislarve the male Sacculina Cancer examined for infested crabs to fertilize on the underside of the crab eggs of the female parasite. The crab changed the port again their behavior. It guards the eggs and cared for as if they were their own.

Species

  • Sacculina americana Reinhard, 1955
  • Sacculina atlantica Anderson
  • Sacculina bicuspidata Boschma, 1931
  • Sacculina boschmai Reinhard, 1955
  • Sacculina bourdoni Boschma, 1960
  • Sacculina carcini Thompson, 1836
  • Sacculina gerbei Bonnier, 1887
  • Sacculina gibbsi Hesse
  • Sacculina gonoplaxae Guerin ganivet, 1911
  • Sacculina hirsuta Boschma, 1925
  • Sacculina inflata Leuckart, 1859
  • Sacculina pustulata Boschma, 1925
  • Sacculina rathbunae Boschma, 1933
  • Sacculina reniformis Boschma, 1933
  • Sacculina schmitti Boschma, 1933
  • Sacculina tesselata Boschma, 1925

Swell

  • Integrated Taxonomic System (North America)
  • BNET.com Research Center
  • Crustaceans
  • Crustacea
  • Parasite in invertebrates
Kunstformen der Natur Genus
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