Symbion
Common Name: Symbion
Scientific Name: Symbion pandora
Phylum: Cycliophora
Class: Eucycliophora
Other Taxonomy: Order: Symbiida Family: Symbiidae Genus: Symbion
Specimen #: 39
Circumstance: Observed online
Specimen Condition: Specimen condition presumed alive
Location: Unknown (online)
Typical Habitat: found living attached to the bodies of cold-water lobsters
Invasive? It is not an invasive species
Natural area of growth: found living attached to the bodies of cold-water lobsters
Relationship with humans: No known relationship with humans
Evolutionary Significance: can reproduce both asexually by budding and sexually. In sexual reproduction the male attaches to a feeding stage and impregnates a budding female. The female then separates from the feeding stage and attaches herself to another host, where the larva in her develops. The female dies, and the larva escapes. The sexual reproductive cycle is triggered when the host crustacean molts its skin in order to grow.
Sources: Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbion
Scientific Name: Symbion pandora
Phylum: Cycliophora
Class: Eucycliophora
Other Taxonomy: Order: Symbiida Family: Symbiidae Genus: Symbion
Specimen #: 39
Circumstance: Observed online
Specimen Condition: Specimen condition presumed alive
Location: Unknown (online)
Typical Habitat: found living attached to the bodies of cold-water lobsters
Invasive? It is not an invasive species
Natural area of growth: found living attached to the bodies of cold-water lobsters
Relationship with humans: No known relationship with humans
Evolutionary Significance: can reproduce both asexually by budding and sexually. In sexual reproduction the male attaches to a feeding stage and impregnates a budding female. The female then separates from the feeding stage and attaches herself to another host, where the larva in her develops. The female dies, and the larva escapes. The sexual reproductive cycle is triggered when the host crustacean molts its skin in order to grow.
Sources: Piper, Ross (2007), Extraordinary Animals: An Encyclopedia of Curious and Unusual Animals, Greenwood Press.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbion