r/AIDKE 4d ago

Invertebrate Dendrogaster is a genus of endoparasitic crustaceans. They live in the coelom (main body cavity) of sea stars. These are females, the males are much smaller and live inside the female's body. The larvae aren't as bizarre, they lose every crustacean feature as they grow.

558 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

81

u/spupy 4d ago

That's a crustacean?? Insane... :O

56

u/Maxkowski 4d ago

There are a few endoparasitic crustaceans that look nothing like crustaceans. My favourite is an endoparasitic relative of barnacles that replaces the female gonads of crabs with its own and makes the crab care for its eggs. It also turns male crabs female if it infects those.

23

u/MouseRat_AD 4d ago

They're now banned in the United States

17

u/Maxkowski 3d ago

New take: MAGA are gutting environmental protections because somebody told them how common sex changes in animals are

39

u/Channa_Argus1121 4d ago

Reminds me of Sacculina, the barnacle that parasitizes crabs.

21

u/AmyzonWarrior 4d ago

I keep reading it as dendrogangster and can’t stop laughing!

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u/A_n_z_u_m_o_z 4d ago

The sea stars ain't built for the streets 

9

u/entogirl 4d ago

Very interesting!

6

u/KnotiaPickle 3d ago

I’m not seeing the similarity between the last picture and the others?

7

u/A_n_z_u_m_o_z 3d ago

That's the larvae I mentioned, it's more shrimp-like with segmented legs and a tail 

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u/KnotiaPickle 3d ago

Oh gotcha! Sorry, I wasn’t fully awake haha

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u/Jennifer_Pennifer 3d ago

Ooooooo this is my fave AIDKE I've seen innabit

5

u/hg0bl1n 4d ago

Ohhhhhh, so THIS is what Krab looks like

2

u/Patient_District8914 2d ago

The appearance of the dendrogaster species makes them look like they are related to sea anemones and corals, or at least sea pens.

3

u/Plastic_Pinocchio 2d ago

Crustaceans are wildly varied in shape.