bogleech: rotifers: animal-factbook: Parasites can be cute...
bogleech: rotifers: animal-factbook: Parasites can be cute too! These Cyamus lice cluster on the bodies of right whales. The clusters of white lice contrast with the dark skin of the whale, and help researchers identify individual whales because of the lice clusters’ unique shapes. via tea_and_biology oh my goodness look at those beady little eyes These “lice” (louse-like crustaceans) cause so little harm that they likely don’t qualify as parasitic, mostly feeding on dead skin and detritus, like the harmless mites that live on our own bodies! It’s even been proposed that whales also use them to quickly identify one another visually, or some other communicative purpose. The lice cling to rough, raised patches of skin that serve no other purpose we can agree upon. As far as we know, all these patches do is collect lots and lots of lice, further evidence they may be outright beneficial to their host.
vigna
Parasites can be cute too! These Cyamus lice cluster on the bodies of right whales. The clusters of white lice contrast with the dark skin of the whale, and help researchers identify individual whales because of the lice clusters’ unique shapes. via tea_and_biology
oh my goodness look at those beady little eyes
These “lice” (louse-like crustaceans) cause so little harm that they likely don’t qualify as parasitic, mostly feeding on dead skin and detritus, like the harmless mites that live on our own bodies! It’s even been proposed that whales also use them to quickly identify one another visually, or some other communicative purpose.
The lice cling to rough, raised patches of skin that serve no other purpose we can agree upon. As far as we know, all these patches do is collect lots and lots of lice, further evidence they may be outright beneficial to their host.
