Notes: “These strange beasts are monstrillid copepods (or some prefer monstrillid). They are parasites on various kinds of benthic animals including polychaetes. Adults are planktonic, non-feeding, and exclusively reproductive. We have never been able to put a name on this beast. This appears to be a female with a couple of residual eggs attached to the long caudal filaments that are characteristic of that group of copepods.”

Collected from North Inlet, SC using an epibenthic sled (363 µm mesh). This specimen is stained with Rose Bengal.

Submitted by Tracy Buck with information courtesy of Dennis Allen, both of Baruch Marine Field Laboratory, University of South Carolina.Images taken through a NIkon SMZ 1500 Stereo Microscope with a digital camera and imaging software (QImaging Micropublisher 3.3 Real Time Viewing.)