Some of the weirdest parasitic copepods are in the genus Philichthys. They live inside the skull bones of marine fish. They are so weird that we don’t know what most of their body parts are. There is a male in the vial to the left of the giant female, which is about an inch long 🧪

"copepod" great new insult

Not gonna lie, before I read your caption, I thought it was a batter-dropped-through-a-funnel pancake.

Do they live inside the skulls of living fish or dead ones? I don’t want that thing loving in me!!

Wow the female looks bloated! Is the media not salty enough? Or does it look bloated like this in life? Fascinating!