Creatureposting #1: Parasitic Crustaceans

[e c c o j a m s]

So, what would a normal crustacean look to you? Armored, bunch of legs, maybe some claws, right?
Well, what if I told you that these are also crustaceans:

“Ew what the fuck?” Same, buddy.
These ARE crustaceans. Parasitic ones. Why? How? Well, you don’t need legs, eyes, armor, or anything remotely recognizable when you spend your life sucking the bodily fluids of your hosts organs. All of these have something that ties them together: one half that absorbs organic matter in the host, and the other half which are reproductive organs that hang out of the host. The only thing that ties them together to Mr. Krabs is their larval stages, which look remarkably more crabby.
These ones look more weird:

You can see some that haven’t become fully blob-ified yet. These are all copepods, which ties them closer to Sheldon J. Plankton, even though they look like wet food in the sink.
This is Sacculina, a type of barnacle, which are also crustaceans:

It’s devolved into a fungus-like root system with the reproductive system hanging out as a blob. The roots have molded around the outline of the crab host in this image. They also have parasites of their own, Liriopsis, which are also unsurprisingly equally blobby as their hosts. They are isopods, which brings them close to woodlice and roly-polies.
This is Dendrogaster, which is also a barnacle:

It evolved to wrap neatly around the organs of it’s starfish host.

So, since crustaceans lose all of their features to become blob abominations, this is what I would look like as a parasite:

Purple is my head and the remains of my digestive system, reddish-pink are blood vessels and the remains of my limbs, and yellow is the reproductive system which hangs outside of the host’s body.

[A Former User]

@e-c-c-o-j-a-m-s So you like cruentations, huh.

[e c c o j a m s]

@Duchess yes, i love croatians

[A Former User]

@e-c-c-o-j-a-m-s Camel would be pleased.