A largemouth bass goes after a minnow. Big fish eats little fish. Nothing too unusual, right?
Except the little fish isn't a fish — it's a bivalve, a mussel, that mimics a minnow in order to spray its parasitic larvae into the gills of an actual fish 🤯
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This is a mussel in the genus Lampsilis whose larvae must develop in a fish's gills as part of their life cycle. What looks like a minnow is a part of the mussel's body that has evolved to mimic a small fish, complete w/ eye dot, tail, & stripes
📹B. Billings/ R. Hagerty, USFWS
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For those asking: In most cases the fish doesn't die, though heavy infestations can kill young fish. The mussel larvae usually stay in the gills for a few weeks, absorbing nutrients while sheltering from predators and other dangers. Then they drop back into the river and mature
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Some mussels tempt fish w/ tiny lures that mimic worms, snails, eggs etc — then CLAMP onto the fish like an underwater Venus flytrap as they spray their larvae into its gills. E. capsaeformis catches a darter
📹C Barnhart bit.ly/3o4kPfu HT
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The complexity, precision, and beauty of freshwater mussel lures is astounding. Each is adapted to the mussel's particular habitat.
This is the lure of the wavy-rayed lampmussel (Lampsilis fasciola), which typically mimics minnows & darters
📷 W. Haag bit.ly/3g5eUTa
Replying to
The rainbow mussel (Villosa iris) has evolved a lure that looks like a crayfish! Because that is what their host fish, such as smallmouth bass, love to eat.
📷 Wm Roston / Chris Barnhart bit.ly/3GkEAGd
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Others mussels form intricate packets of larvae called conglutinates, which *strikingly* resemble insects, fish, worms etc. When host fish eat these packets, they rupture and release larvae into their mouth and gills
📷bit.ly/3rQaWmE bit.ly/3IApsG6
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These might look like bugs, but they're not. They're bundles of parasitic mussel larvae in deceptive packaging that evolved to look like tiny aquatic invertebrates to entice host fish.
Mussels were using intricate fish lures hundreds of millions of years before humans existed.
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