Hell hello and hello again!. Sorry for the wait, lifeโs been kicking me. But. Iโm back and ready to shed knowledge once more!!๐๐๐๐
These little things that look like freshly made batches of white unseasoned rice that youโd see on your favorite food, is called a whale lice!. Whale lice are only exclusively found on whales of almost every species all over the world. They are also very well related to beach hoppers, sand hoppers and skeleton shrimp.
They may look like they give the whale great irritation, only sometimes when they breach and splash onto the water, but they are a great benefit to them!, being parasites they pose a great boon in the whales cleanliness and physical health. Whale lice are cleaners picking at dead skin, algae, old wounds and even open wounds if they wish sometimes. How they stay on while the whale does anything is by their incredibly strong claws that grip onto the tough skin making them immune from falling or drifting away from harsh currents.
They are generally found on the softest parts of the whales body and where water currents are the most weakest most commonly found on their nasal area, flippers, head and the bottom of their jaw in the crevices of skin folds. So if you do go out in the world to go whale watching with grey-whales, you may find some whale live where the barnacles are on their blow hole or mouth.
Whale lice also may determine the whales health, however this is just speculation, whale lice do kinda confirm if a whale is unhealthy due to massive infestations. How these infestations happen is if a whales movements have been slowed through sickness, weakness, and other factors.
How whale lice reproduce and meat each other of the opposing sexes are either on one single whale, or, intermingling with other whales as they hitch a ride and spread genes from there by climbing aboard another whale.
These guys are really cool and a prime example that crustaceans are quite literally everywhere no matter where you go, hell, you can even find some under a rock in your backyard โจ
