#rhizocephalan

it is time for crab on tumblr, but not time for crab in my life. yet.

Tumblr's April Fool's crab post button is really really funny given that my icon is of a rhizocephalan--that is, a parasitic barnacle that grows into a branching lump inside a crab and alters its behavior so it will tend the rhizocephalan's eggs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizocephala

Jay: “We shouldn’t be worried, right?”

Me: “Of course not! I’m not going to actually create a parasite or anything like that...”

*few days later*

After @lokifenokee had to share information about a parasitic barnacle that hunts down crabs and uses them to make more of itself, I wondered what would it be like with a sentient monster crab such as Tamatoa. 

So meet Harakore (”Innocence” in Maori). Several years ago, Harakore was a male monster crab who lived with his older brother (still figuring him out) in Lalotai. Just when the 25 foot tall Harakore was about to molt, he started getting allergies. But in reality, a monster rhizocephalan got to him and slowly took control of his body. He felt weak, his growth halted, but most of all, he believed that he was now a female with a brood of eggs. Instead of being the rough and tough male who was very social, she was motherly, kept to herself and her brother, and very protective of her “eggs” which was actually the new yellow part sticking from her abdomen. To save the trouble, look up rhizocephalan. So when Harakore thought that she laid her eggs, she became somewhat of an empty soul; spacey, confused, quiet... different. Other monsters thought that she was contaminated and wanted to stay the hell away from her, except for her older brother, who’s working on either finding a magical item that will bring her back to being what she was once before or trying to make her bigger by growing something (I was thinking a magical fruit I’ll make up). Still figuring some things out.

((I was going to mention this much later, but I’ve been talking to @lokifenokee on ideas on how to get rid of a monster Rhizocephalan since this version of it is fiction. 

So in this case, the parasite can be killed the easy way or the hard way. The easy way is obviously to kill the host decapod. When the host dies, the parasite dies along with it.

But if you don’t want to kill the host, there’s a more risky, hard way... a concoction made from rare herbs....

but like always, there’s a catch ala Indiana Jones, National Treasure, whatever adventure movie where the main characters solve clues, go to some ancient temple and try not to die while getting said rare item.

PROTECT THE CHILDREN

Oh hell no! That is the scariest parasite I’ve read about in a long time

Isn’t it delightful? XD

“Christ on a cracker, and I thought cordyceps was terrifying.”