Following up to Bent’s enthusiasm for all things parasitic, i saw a parasitic copepod on a goby today at Nudi Falls, this one was on a soft coral so was in a nice position to shoot near to the sand.
A Parasitic Copepod sucking the brain juice from an unsuspecting Goby – note the size of the lump on the head!
Once I took a photo or two I noticed a pulsation in the body of the Copepod which looked like a peristaltic action to take fluids (food / brain juice / magical powers) from the host. I managed to get some video of it so you can take a look below:
http://vimeo.com/52449340
The Gobies had a patch of eggs, so the presence of the parasite is not detrimental enough to prevent procreation, but it stall is a pretty gruesome way to live your life! Lembeh seems to be full or parasites these days, so when you are visiting keep checking for more smaller things on the smaller thing that is living on the bigger thing.
