6 - Sphaeromatidae::“Cute As Buttons”

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Figure 50. A, caridean shrimp with bopyrid parasite in branchial chamber.
Probopyrus pandalicola: B, 9 and 6 in dorsal view, same scale; C, 6 enlarged; D, 9,
ventral view, eggs removed from marsupium.
cephalothorax of the host, attached dorsally to the carapace, ventrally and
laterally in the gill chambers and on the pereopods, or in the brood
chambers.
The Entoniscidae are internal parasites of decapod crustaceans, being
found in the visceral cavity, with the parasite's head in the position of the
host's gonads or hepatopancreas. Veillet (1945) demonstrated that a pore to
the host's branchial chamber connecting the parasite to the exterior is pres­
ent only in hosts with mature parasites, to facilitate the release of epi-
caridium larvae.
The Cryptoniscidae are protandrous hermaphrodites. The female is