{"id":2481,"date":"2007-07-31T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-07-31T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/2007\/07\/31\/whale-lice-fact-shee\/"},"modified":"2020-02-13T16:31:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T17:31:24","slug":"whale-lice-fact-shee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/whale-lice-fact-shee\/","title":{"rendered":"Whale lice fact sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Whale lice<\/b> (cyamidae<\/i>) are small crustaceans, not lice despite their name. The name “whale lice” comes from the whalers, as they often had lice (Pediculus sp<\/i>.) themselves and they saw how there were lots of animals crawling all over\u00a0the whales as on themselves. Whale lice are between 5-15 mm long and are grouped into 7 genera\u00a0and 32 species. Many species are physically almost identical and for many years\u00a0they were classified as one species. Many new discoveries are made all the time, the most recent was 1991. A lice species that used to be classified as Isocyamus deplhinii<\/i> is now Isocyamus kogiae <\/i>as they live on pygmy\u00a0sperm whales (Kogia breviceps<\/i>).<\/div>\n
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Classification<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
Domain\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eukaryota\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Kingdom\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Animalia\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Phylum\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Arthropoda\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Subphylum\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Crustacea\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Class\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Malacostraca\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Order\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Amphipoda\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Suborder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Corophiidea<\/span><\/div>\n
Infraorder\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Caprellida<\/span><\/div>\n
Family\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cyamidae\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
Genera \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Cyamus, Isocyamus,
\n<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0 Neocyamus,
\nPlatycyamus, <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0 Scutocyamus,
\nSirenocyamus and Syncyamus<\/span><\/div>\n
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Hosts <\/span><\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The hosts\u00a0that carry whale lice are both baleen whales <\/span>(mysticeti<\/i>)<\/span> such as right whales, grey whales and\u00a0rorquals, and toothed whales <\/span>(odontoceti<\/i>) such sperm whales, beaked whales, dolphins, and porpoises. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Northern\u00a0right whales, Eubalaena glacialis<\/i> and\u00a0Eubalaena japonica<\/i>, always have the lice on\u00a0the same spots: on the rostrum (bonnet), the chin (beard) and above the eyes\u00a0(eyebrows). <\/span>Sourthern right whales (Eubalaena australis<\/i>) also have an edge around the lip which the Northern right whales are missing. The lice have small hooks to cling on to the whales’ callosities, which are crusty growths made of the whale itself, barnacles and Caprellids amphipods<\/i>. On the callosities\u00a0there are about 5000 Cyamus ovalis\u00a0<\/i>which gives them the white color. Between the callosities there are about 200
\nlice of the species C. glacilis<\/i> and\u00a0adult animals have are bout 2000 lice (C.\u00a0Erraticus<\/i>) around the genetalia. One whale can have as many as 7,500 lice\u00a0living on its skin. Cyamus ovalis, C.\u00a0glacilis <\/i>and C. erraticus <\/i>are not\u00a0three species but 9 species as the right whales (Atlantic right whale, pacific\u00a0right whale and Southern right whale) have their own unique lice seperated into\u00a0different species. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Whale\u00a0lice feed on dead skin cells and dead skin of their host, and other things that get stuck on
\nthe whale such as algae, but they do not feed on the whale itself. It is not a\u00a0real louse nor a parasite, more just a free-rider that cleans the whale. Some\u00a0whale lice are filter-feeders and eat plankton that drift by the whale.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The whale\u00a0lice reproduce on the whale. Most are amphipods that have free-swimming stage, but
\nthis is something whale lice are missing and the female keep her offsprings in\u00a0a marsupium on her underside and the offsprings, when ready, crawl onto the\u00a0whale. Whale lice move from one whale to the other via close contact between\u00a0mother and calf, or male and female during mating. A newborn calf doesn\u2019t have\u00a0lice, they are transmitted from the mother. Otherwise the lice stays on the\u00a0whale throughout its life.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mutualism or parasitism? When it comes to the\u00a0interaction between cyamidae and Northern right whales can be classified as\u00a0somewhere in between mutualism and parasitism. The whale doesn\u2019t really benefit\u00a0from the lice but the lice gets great benefits and is building its entire life\u00a0around the whale, it is dependent on the whales lifecycle for its survival. The\u00a0whale get one way of help as it gets rid of dead skin and other parasites.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For the whale research, the lice is very\u00a0informative. The lice has been sitting on the whales for millions of years and\u00a0followed the evolution of the whales. Research on the lice has given us many\u00a0answers when it comes to the evolution; for 5-6 million years ago the right\u00a0whale was divided into three species, Southern right whale, Atlantic right\u00a0whale and Pacific right whale. One, of just a few, Southern right whales\u00a0crossed the ekvator\u00a0 for about 1-2 million\u00a0years ago and spread their lice (C.\u00a0ovalis<\/i>) to the Pacific right whale. Researchers has found that the lice on\u00a0the Pacific right whale is closer related to the Southern then the Atlantic.
\nThe Southern right whales that crossed the ekvator probably didn\u2019t mate with\u00a0the Pacific right whale as the C.\u00a0erraticus,<\/i> that lives around the genitalia is not affected. This is amazing\u00a0though right whales can\u2019t cross the ekvator because it is too warm, as they\u00a0have too much blobber. Whale lice also help researchers to identify individual\u00a0whales, and makes the research easier. All right whales are unique, but\u00a0sometimes it is difficult to tell some individuals apart though they don\u2019t have\u00a0nay whites pots and are completely black. With the help of the lice the whale turns\u00a0unique in shape and color. Probably the lice is irritating the skin, but it\u00a0helps the research, which can be seen as a benefit for the whales in the long\u00a0run.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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One reason whales are jumping is to get rid of\u00a0parasites and lice. Pec-fin slapping and lobtailing can also be a way to get\u00a0rid of lice. Many species of cetaceans also rubb their bodies against rocks and\u00a0seabottom, even in captivity. Cetaceans can also get help from birds to get rid\u00a0of parasites when they come to the surface to breathe.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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When we come to the situation for the lice we\u00a0see that they are in danger in the future, because many of the whales they are\u00a0living on are endangered. Atlantic and Pacific right whales are endangerd, and\u00a0the Southern right whale are at risk and in need of conservation. Grey whale\u00a0populations are at risk, and one population became extinct in the 1700s. Other\u00a0threatened species of baleen whales are blue whale, fin whale, sei whale,\u00a0humpback whale, all four species of minke whale, pymgy right whale and bowhead\u00a0whale. Other whale species at risk are the vaquita, indus river dolphin,\u00a0irrawaddy dolphin, and different populations of dolphins in certain areas (such\u00a0as orca, bottlenose dolphin, spinner dolphin, pantropical spotted dolphin,\u00a0pilot whales and melonheaded whale), many beaked whales, sperm whale and\u00a0kogids. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An action for conservation of cetaceans and\u00a0keep healthy populations is very important for the whale lice survival. Even if\u00a0one whale can carry 5000 lice, the less whales they have the more they are at\u00a0risk for inbreeding. When there are no more whales, there are no more whale\u00a0lice.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Some of the cyamidae is strictly living on one\u00a0whale species, such as Cyamus catodontis\u00a0<\/i>that only lives on male sperm whales, and Neocyamus\u00a0physeteris<\/i> that only lives on sperm whale female and calves. But a few\u00a0species are finding new hosts, and the Isocyamus\u00a0deplhinii<\/i> doesn\u2019t only exist on the shortbeaked common dolphin, it has been\u00a0discovered on 12 other toothed whales, such as Risso\u2019s dolphins, shortfinned\u00a0pilot whales and longfinnes pilot whales, whitebeaked dolphin, false orca,\u00a0bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoises, rough-toothed dolphin, Gervais beaked\u00a0whale and orca. But, whale lice is not moving onto other species then\u00a0cetaceans.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Worms<\/span><\/b> can be seen on most cetaceans, and in the Azores we see these worms\u00a0hanging from the fins of all dolphin species, and the baleen whales. On the\u00a0minke whale we can see species as Pennella<\/i> and Cocconeis ceticola<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>The orcas seems to have a Xenobalanus sp<\/i>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whale lice (cyamidae) are small crustaceans, not lice despite their name. The name “whale lice” comes from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[313],"tags":[277,238],"yoast_head":"\nWhale lice fact sheet - Azores Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/whalewatchingazores.com\/blog\/whale-lice-fact-shee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whale lice fact sheet - Azores Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whale lice (cyamidae) are small crustaceans, not lice despite their name. 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