well i got back home and only to find that out of like 30 crayfish in my pond i only have 2 left. and there the 2 big ones that have been in there the longest. at 1st i thoght it was the eucalyptis (bad spelling) leaves that fall in there that was killing them. anyway the 2 i have that are still alive have these worms on the back moving around. nayone have any idea what they are. thanks
worms on crayfish
- Thread starter USMCtanker
- Start date
Ive caught some crayfish w/ some little white worms on them, not sure if they bother them or not though. What did the worms look like?
look kinda like leaches but there very small so i dont know if they are that small. ill look later and explain more
They're probably Branchiobdellids (essentially harmless members of an annelid "worm" family exclusively found on freshwater crustaceans, mostly crayfish). Branchiobdellids primarily feed on the algae and protozoans that colonize the surface of the crayfish.
ive seen them on mine too, after they molt, its like they were living between the new exoskeleton and the old, they molt then the white worms are wiggling around like they are trying to find something new to latch on to
I watched a show "top ten bloodsuckers" on animal planet last night, and I think leeches were 8. Leaches will suck on a host untill it is full, with out regard to the hosts life. A leech can completly drain a frog of blood, what a sucky way to die!