Whale LiceWhere does the term whale lice derive from? Early whalers lived and worked in an unhygienic environment. It was not uncommon that head and body lice (insects) plagued them. Now, imagine: They caught whales (for example right whales) that where infested by small animals just like lice! The nickname “whale lice” was born! Yet, these lice are not actual lice although they live a similar lifestyle. They are external parasitic crustaceans that crowd the body surfaces and external orifices of both, baleen whales and toothed whales. These cetacean parasites are crustaceans, specifically cyamid amphipods. This means that they belong to the family Cyamidae in the order Amphipoda. They are related to caprellid amphipods, the skeleton shrimps. The family Cyamidae consists of more than 35 described species placed in seven genera. Cyamids are host specific. Certain species hitchhike only on certain whale species. They do not have a free-swimming stage and are doomed to spend their lifetime on one whale. Yet, these tiny crustaceans are passed on to other hosts when the whales cuddle up and get intimated long enough for the cyamid to crawl onto the other whale. This happens mostly during mother and calf interactions.
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