#fish lice

“Copepods of various species. Photos were taken using a Biolam R-11 microscope. For photography, the dark field method was combined with polarization. Thanks to polarizing microscopy, the glow of muscle stripes in the bodies of some crustaceans is visible. Each photo is the result of panoramic shooting and focus stacking.” - via Wikimedia Commons (original description translated from Russian using Google Translate)

very weird little thing

Thanks for reading or having a look. I hope you enjoy/ enjoyed.

“Copepods are aquatic animals like most crustaceans. They live en masse in all depths of both sea and fresh water, as well as in puddles, swamps, and some species in moist moss and wasteland. Among them are also parasites whose appearance can be changed beyond recognition and which live on fish and other aquatic animals. Free-living copepods are only a few millimeters long (0,5-2mm) and play an important part in the water body's food chain: they reproduce relatively quickly, and by feeding on tiny microscopic organisms, they themselves are constantly food for larger aquatic animals. Around 8,500 species of copepods are known in the world, according to the latest data, 82 are known in Estonia, but the existence of 100 species is assumed.” - via Wikimedia Commons

Copepod

Ectoparasite of electric eels

YUP IT’S SCARY

I pulled this off of an orandas wen! It's a fish louse. Stupid things are usually a problem in the summer when goldfish are grown in outdoor ponds but recently they've been attacking. Treating the effected sections, obviously. That involves picking the lice off by hand! I put this one in this API test tube so I could get a good look. I THINK the head is pointing down in these photos. This is the top of the animal. Crazy.