Shrimp parasite?

[Animal Mother]

This white thing on the side of this shore shrimp looks like a tick. Its body is white and bulging, with what look like black legs hooked onto the shrimp.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

parasitic Isopod?

I would remove it ASAP

 

[Animal Mother]

Yeah I removed the shrimp from the tank. It's just a feeder, no biggie there, but I don't need my octopuses already short lifespan being shortened by some troublesome sea bug.

 

[LeslieH]

That's a bopryid isopod - actually two of them. what you see is the female. the male is much smaller & is attached to the female's body. both of them are under the shrimp's carapace. They are very specialized parasites that only attach to shrimp so you don't have to worry about any other organism in your tank. As parasites go they're fairly harmless & while the shrimp looks odd it's not particularly affected by the isopods. there's some pictures of a bopyrid removed from a shrimp on the shrimp hitchhiker page of Chuck's addiction http://home2.pacific.net.ph/~sweetyummy42/index.html

 

[Patrick12]

Those are bad critters. It will actually be unlikely to harm your octopus as they can get to them and get them off, but any other fish or inverts will not fare as well with them present.

 

[Animal Mother]

Thanks, you nailed it Leslie.