Crab slaves or slave crabs?
Crab slaves are actually a type of barnacle, and those of you familiar with whale barnacles will know that the creatures have a somewhat unsavory way of surviving, as a large proportion of them are parasitic on living organisms such as turtles and whales, and can even be found on the occasional fast-swimming killer whale and dolphin!
The special shell structure of the whale barnacle can be rooted in the whale's thick skin, firmly fixed in the whale's body, and sometimes also parasitic in the breathing holes and near the eyes, and even around the soft genitals, etc., and may also endanger the whale's life, so when you see the whale's body densely gray-white spots, it will be up a chilly body!
Barnacles around the whale's genitals
Parasitic barnacles on crabs are not what we think they are, but they are a kind of trapezoidal larvae that drift in the water shortly after hatching, and attach themselves to crabs when they encounter them! They find the crab's joints and then use the dagger-like exoskeleton on their shells to pierce the crab's shell, which they then shed, with the soft parts burrowing into the crab and growing up inside absorbing the crab's bodily fluids!
Controlling the crab's mind to make it a puppet
Many parasitic organisms have the amazing ability to make their hosts puppets, such as the wireworm, which in its reproductive stage secretes a hormone that controls praying mantises and the like to move toward the water's edge, and then the wireworms go into the water to reproduce. But the crab slave's control behavior is clearly superior to that of the wireworm, because it can not only make the crab's "mind" change, but also make the crab's body undergo drastic changes!
Reproductive cycle of crab slaves
After the slaves enter the crab's body, the crab stops growing, including the shedding of shells, which is a part of the crab's growth process! There are several reasons for this, one is because the crab slave needs a lot of nutrients to develop, and it absorbs almost all the nutrients in the crab's body straight away! The second is that the crab slave will extend countless tentacles and reach the corners of the crab's body, such as the crab's eye column, nervous system and other organs, controlling the crab's behavior, and releasing hormones to affect the crab's growth, making the crab completely become a zombie crab!
This is not a crab egg, but a slave's ovary
If a female slave parasitizes a male crab, then when the slave grows, it will gradually explode out of the body through the crab's reproductive parts, while the male crab's signature pointy reproductive position will gradually approach the fuller female crab, and the slave's ovary in the reproductive parts will grow bigger and bigger, protruding from the body to form a nursery bag! Eventually the mature ovaries require sperm from the male crab slaves in order to be fertilized and reproduce the next generation.
Comparison of parasitized and normal crabs
The parasitized crab slave no longer reproduces, the male is no longer motivated to mate, and the female does not intend to reproduce! And then the male crab slave larvae will come to the female crab slave's brood pouch at the right time to fertilize the female crab slave's eggs, after which the male crab slave will become part of the female crab slave's body, and then the fertilized eggs will continue to develop, while the crabs clean up the crab slave's brood pouch of all sorts of detritus, and take great care of the crab slave's growth!
Releasing the larvae
When they are about to hatch, the crabs will travel to deeper waters to release the larvae, and then return to shallower waters to continue the process of nurturing the slaves for the next round of incubation, during which time the crabs will continue to eat, but all for the sake of the slaves! There will be about several round trips to release the crab slave larvae before the crab dies, so to speak, bowing out for the crab slaves!
The crab that bows for the crab slaves
There are over 100 species of crab slaves around the world, and the probability of a marine crab being parasitized is very high, with 20% of Danish fjords being parasitized, 50% in Hawaii, and close to 100% in some parts of the Mediterranean Sea, and at this probability, it is expected that the crab slaves will one day have to play themselves to death as crabs will no longer reproduce after they have been parasitized!
After watching the parasitic career of the crab slaves, is it a kind of Alien vision? If it's humans they're parasitizing, then it's clear that Alien will become a reality and they'll be mankind's worst enemy, but thankfully, such a horrifying creature hasn't yet appeared on Earth.
Can you still eat crabs that have been parasitized by crab slaves?
Theoretically, the crab can still be eaten after high-temperature steaming, but if you know it's a crab slave, can you still eat it? For the crab slave such a creature, listen to feel the evil chill, not to mention eating crab slaves! So, if you know, it's better not to eat it, so as not to spit out all the overnight meal!