Cyamus kessleri

Little Gray Whale lice:

Little Gray Whale lice (Cyamus kessleri): This whale louse is very similar to another gray whale louse - Gray whale lice (Cyamus scammoni), except that it is slightly smaller, broader, and has gills that stick out from the sides of the animal and look like legs, rather than coiled up against the ventral side of the thorax.

The other look-alike whale lice on gray whales is Gray and Bowhead Whale Amphipod (Cyamus ceti), which is similar but has many more little spikes on the ventral side of the thorax segments. C. ceti also has diramous gills, whereas those of C. kessleri are uniramous (not branched).

It is very easy to think that the hind legs of this animal are its antennae, and that its front end is its rear end.

Local Notes

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References

Weblinks

• WoRMS page for Cyamus kessleri

• WoRMS Page for Cyamus kessleri
• Search Arctos Database for Cyamus kessleri (Southeast only)
• Search Arctos Database for Cyamus kessleri (entire database)
• Encyclopedia of Life search for Cyamus kessleri
• iNaturalist Observations for Cyamus kessleri in Southeast Alaska

Other References

• Martin Heyning 1999
• Hurley Mohr 1956
• Carlton 2007
• Leung 1967

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Related Files

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  Little Gray Whale lice (Cyamus kessleri) showing near genitalia

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  Cyamus on Gray Whale (Eschrichtius robustus)

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