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anchor worm

Lernaea cyprinacea

Classification

Lernaea is a genus of copepod crustaceans whose members are commonly called anchor worms and are parasitic on freshwater fishes. Life cycle Anchor worms mate during the last free-swimming (copepodid) stage of development. After mating, the female burrows into the flesh of a fish and transforms into an unsegmented, wormlike form, usually with a portion hanging from the fish's body.

Distribution

(c) Nick Tobler (Cowturtle), some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Nick Tobler (Cowturtle) · CC-BY
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
Portugal · 2United States of America