FunFacts Archives - Jayson&Co https://jaysonandco.com/category/funfacts/ Seaside Safari : Explore, Wonder, and Learn with your favorite sea anemone! Sat, 27 Jul 2024 09:37:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.3 https://jaysonandco.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cropped-square-icon-32x32.png FunFacts Archives - Jayson&Co https://jaysonandco.com/category/funfacts/ 32 32 The scary lump of a squat lobster… https://jaysonandco.com/2024/07/10/parasitic-isopod/ Wed, 10 Jul 2024 21:03:23 +0000 https://jaysonandco.com/?p=590 What can be the lump on the side of some squat lobster of the species Galathea squamifera?
This is a parasitic isopod!

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 Do you see the lump on the animal on the right?

It is a quite common isopod parasite of this squat lobster species, Pleurocrypta sp. (longibranchiata or galateae). It is hidden in the branchial cavity of our squat lobster, and feeds on its hemolymph.

Isopods of this family are all ectoparasites of decapods (shrimps, crabs, etc…), and represent  7.7% of all isopods species. There is more exemples of parasitic isopods around the globe, as you can see below in the picture from a review. 

If you don’t know what an isopod is, great news! I will introduce a common free-living species (non-parasitic) of our tidal pools very soon 🙂 

Sources

    • Doris
    • J. D. Williams and C. B. Boyko, “The Global Diversity of Parasitic Isopods Associated with Crustacean Hosts (Isopoda: Bopyroidea and Cryptoniscoidea),” PLOS ONE, vol. 7, no. 4, p. e35350, Apr. 2012, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0035350.

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]]> In the eye of a scallop https://jaysonandco.com/2024/06/04/in-the-eye-of-a-scallop/ Tue, 04 Jun 2024 09:52:38 +0000 https://jaysonandco.com/?p=558 The post In the eye of a scallop appeared first on Jayson&Co.

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👀 The little “beads” are the eyes!

Did you know that scallop eyes are very special?

Scallop have up to 200 reflecting eyes that focus light onto two retinas… and each eye works like a tiny telescope with an array of mirrors at the back!!

The biological mirrors are comprised of flat, square guanine crystals that reflect light onto the retina (see the figure from the article below 👇).

Sources

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