Bughead! (warning, contains bug like image...)

[wade1]

The fish I do research with here at NC State are called bughead, Atlantic Menhaden, pogies, etc... I'll illustrate for you now, exactly why these fish are called "bugheads":

This is a type of isopod that lives in the buccal cavity (mouth) of these fish and seemingly doesn't harm them, although they can take up a great deal of space! (See image again for details)

Disgusting no?

Wade

 

[Anonymous]

Wade, were you ever involved in producing any of those b-movies back in the 1950's?



Peace,

Chip

 

[Anonymous]

That looks like the thing that came out of Chekov's ear! :|

 

[wade1]

That looks like the thing that came out of Chekov's ear!

I never thought of it that way, but it almost does! Maybe thats how they control us in graduate school and we just don't know it.... hmmmm.

Wade

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
So what does the pod does for the fish? Or it is considered a harmless parasite?

 

[Anonymous]

That looks like the thing that came out of Chekov's ear! :|

that is one of the creepiest scenes ever. i still shreek like a little girl when i see an earwig

 

[wade1]

Well, I don't know that its harmless, although it doesn't seem to affect their growth. Its not symbiotic in any way I can imagine though. It probably feeds on a mixture of what the fish filters (its a filter feeder) and some fish mucous/blood from the gills. Other than that, no one really knows much about them... except that they are ugly buggers.

Wade

 

[Robin Goodfellow]

hi.
Do you have a pic with just the parasite by itself? I want to have a good way to control my wife's appetite :wink:

So do you know if the parasite only affect a specific fish, or it is common for all the fishes in the area?

 

[wade1]

Do you have a pic with just the parasite by itself? I want to have a good way to control my wife's appetite

LOL! No, I don't have an isopod alone pic, we tend to kill em and toss em when we find them.

As for specific, yes. Very rarely you can find them in another species, but the menhaden are the only filter feeding fish in the estuaries and I would guess that the isopods need the excess gill structure to hang on and stay put. I imagine they are ready food for most predatory fishes. Here's a histology section of a menhaden's gill: