#SilentSunday

#Beach gooseneck #barnacles find.
There's 3 different types of barnacles found in BC waters/on beaches - acorn, gooseneck & whale - the latter grows on whales' bodies. Barnacles are a longtime, year-round staple #seafood for coastal #Indigenous #FirstNations. In particular, the #Haida & #Kwakwakawakw & #Pacheedaht #FirstPeoples have several documented stories involving barnacles, including food prep recorded histories.

Barnacles are #ancient and can be dated to the middle of Cambrian period of Paleozoic because of Burgess Shale deposits in #BritishColumbia. They're #hermaphroditic #MarineAnimals.

#beachcombing #ectoparasites #MarineBiology #epibiotic #LookAndLearn #TraditionalFood #CoastSalish #shellfish #PortRenfrew #Kwakwakawakw #Haida #IndigenousFoods #VancouverIsland #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #PNW #WestCoast #Canada #photography #WorldInMyEyes #Educational #CoastalBC #marine

The #European #hedgehog, #Erinaceus #europaeus is native to parts of southern/ central #Europe, Scandinavia, and northern Russia. It lives solitarily in overlapping #territories and protects itself from #predators by #curlingup, which requires complex muscular coordination.
K. Schütte et al. (2024) identified #ectoparasites of 498 specimens. #Ixodes #ricinus and I. #canisuga were the most abundant #ticks.

© #StefanFWirth #Berlin 2025

Ref
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-023-06081-9

#Photos
© S.F. Wirth

Ever had that feeling? You’re just… off. Maybe it started after that amazing trip, or perhaps it’s a lingering tummy bug you can’t quite shake. #ectoparasites #helminths #parasitesymptoms #parasitetreatment #parasiticinfection #preventingparasites #protozoa

https://priya.health/parasitic-infection/

#Flea parasitism can affect the fitness of the host. Whether #ectoparasites and diseases play a role in the decline of the #gardendormouse (Eliomys quercinus) was one of the questions investigated in a project on the species. We searched for fleas in garden dormouse summer nests and on 24 specimens in Germany.
#dormouse #bilch #Gartenschläfer

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/392698520_Fleas_from_garden_dormice_Eliomys_quercinus_and_their_nests_in_Germany

Underwater buffet: Who wants the ectoparasites? https://oceanbites.org/underwater-buffet-who-wants-the-ectoparasites/

Functional diversity among #CoralReef #fishes as consumers of #ectoparasites https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-023-02459-4

"Cleaner fishes are crucial to maintaining #fish community health by eating parasites off host fishes. Cleaners are especially important since #parasitism is super common in coral reefs, affecting the #ecosystem on both individual and community levels."

“Human #follicular #mites: #ectoparasites becoming #symbionts” (Smith et al. 2022)

Do you think about the mites that live in your #face #follicles and come out at #night while you #sleep? Maybe you should!

🧬 They’ve #evolved a tiny #genome.

💪🏻 Each leg segment is powered by only one #muscle cell.

😴 They follow your sleep cycles by responding to your #melatonin.

🧫 Lowest number of cells of any #arthropod.

If you find this intriguingly #weird, this paper is for you! 🤯

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/6/msac125/6604544