Please tell me what this nasty thing is

[wesman42]

So long story short, this was found on snow crab coming from the Bering sea. What is it?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Kind of resembles a leach but I have no idea what kind of critters live in the Bering Sea.

 

[JaimeAdams]

Is it a sea Lamprey?

 

[reef lover]

I think your right.

 

[KJ]

Don't look like.

 

[Katrina71]

Baby Kraken

 

[reef lover]

Well im not seeing any with a double end like that....though the mouth does resemble a lampreys...any ideas... #reefsquad

 

[Flippers4pups]

Not sure either.

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

I believe it's a type of marine leech. One found in the same area is a hirudinida piscicolidae. It would be hard to get an exact match.

 

[wesman42]

That's some serious stuff if it can bore through a crab shell!! I thought lamprey at first too but the double end was super weird to me.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Was it inside the shell of the crab leg?

 

[Bob Loblaw]

They find the soft joints. The blue crab we catch in the marsh are covered in little ones.

 

[wesman42]

Was it inside the shell of the crab leg?

It was on the cartilage of the crab claw...the big end was nearly inside and the small end was latched onto the hard shell.

They find the soft joints. The blue crab we catch in the marsh are covered in little ones.

It seems that way! I haven't found another one....and I have sorted through thousands of lbs of crab so they seem pretty rare...at least from the perspective of making through initial boiling and into the distribution phase.