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Veeloxxy Bites

@the-episiarch.bsky.social

4.8K followers 98 following 2.5K posts

Parasitologist (they/them) who writes a blog about parasites (http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com/) and also draws monster girls https://www.deviantart.com/the-episiarch/gallery

dailyparasite.blogspot.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · Jul 4

Hey bluesky, here's what I do and where you can find it.

I write a 🧪 blog about new research papers on parasites and parasitology here: http://dailyparasite.blogspot.com

And sometimes I draw Parasite Monster Girls (and other things too) here: https://deviantart.com/the-episiarch/gallery

Left to right:
Ophelia the Ophiocordyceps Monster Girl, Luci the Leucochloridium Monster Girl, Epona the Entomopathogenic Nematode Monster Girl, Cynthia the Cymothoid Monster Girl

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 3h

Tired: Labubus
Wired: Labouls
Laboulbeniales are a group of fungi that live on the carapace of insects. One species - Rickia wasmannii - lives on ants, and they make their host less aggressive, especially towards other laboul-infect ants
#Invertebrate
dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2023/04/rick...

Rickia wasmannii

Rickia wasmannii is a fungus that lives on ants, and when it comes to ants and fungi most people usually think of Ophiocordyceps , i.e. the...

dailyparasite.blogspot.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 2d

plz find another hobby bsky.app/profile/the-...

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · Feb 27

Hey people who read my post about weird parasites:

Stop coming at me with your inane "Just like [insert person you don't like]" replies whenever I post about a weird parasite - I'm posting about how wonderfully weird and interesting they are, not to act as a soapbox to air your grievances

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 2d

Hirudinella is a genus of stomach flukes which are usually associated with the Wahoo. But species in this genus can be found in a wide range of pelagic fishes, including the Pacific bluefin tuna 🧪
#Invertebrate
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Top: A young Pacific bluefin tuna
Centre: The opened body cavity of a young bluefin showing the internal organs and a pink fluke.
Bottom: Two photos of a Hirudinella fluke, contracted (left) and extended (right),

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 4d

Yeah it's so chill and cozy

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 5d

There's a species of apicomplexan parasite called Siedleckia nematoides which looks like microscopic version of those soft plastic grub fishing lure🧪
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

A Mister Twister Curly Tail Grub soft plastic fishing lure in chartreuse with red speckles

Composite micrograph showing the sequence of movement of a single detached Siedleckia nematoides parasite, shown as three separate individuals.
From Fig. 1H of the paper: Valigurova, A., Vaškovicová, N., Diakin, A., Paskerova, G. G., Simdyanov, T. G., & Kováčiková, M. (2017). Motility in blastogregarines (Apicomplexa): Native and drug-induced organisation of Siedleckia nematoides cytoskeletal elements. PLoS One, 12(6), e0179709.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179709

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 6d

That closing monologue at the end of episode 13 was so beautiful 💎💖🪨

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 7d

Ruri Rocks did a wonderful job at conveying the sense of curiosity and wonder about the natural world that got many of us into the natural sciences

Screenshot from the anime Ruri Rocks.
A grown-up Ruri standing on the bank of a stream, facing a cliff which contains a large deposit of glittering purple minerals, the bright sunlight shining down causing a rainbow to appear next to Ruri's head

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 7d

I like both her JP and EN voice lines - they give off different vibes, but both of them have me like 👀😳

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 7d

Sometimes, parasitologists have to put their own body on the line in the name of science. In this case, a parasitologist played host to a nose leech for over a month to find out more about its life history 🧪
#Invertebrate
dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2019/10/dino...

Dinobdella ferox

When it comes to parasitology, sometimes you have to get really up close with your study organism, as one researcher in Taiwan did in trying...

dailyparasite.blogspot.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 7d

Arknights players crashing out in the comments: WTF she got a figure?? 😡 She's so bad for her rarity, and her in-game abilities and lore are weak 😠😠🤬

Me, who don't play Arknights: OMFG 👀 hawt snek lady who gives me brainrot is getting a scale figure omg omg 🥺😳😳
myfigurecollection.net/item/3045112

Arknights - Ho'olheyak - 1/7 (Alter)

myfigurecollection.net

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 11d

*She - that post was written by Christie Wilcox

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 11d

The toxin in pufferfish - Tetrodotoxin (TTX) - is a sodium channel blocker that inhibit the ability of nerves to send signals or carry messages, hence the symptom of TTX intoxication is paralysis.
So it is not physiologically possible to get "high" off pufferfish

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 11d

They don't - it's a common myth started by the Dolphins: Spy in the Pod documentary www.discovermagazine.com/do-stoned-do...

Do Stoned Dolphins Give 'Puff Puff Pass' A Whole New Meaning?

Explore the intriguing world of dolphins in 'Dolphins: Spy in the Pod', as they experiment with a pufferfish and tetrodotoxin.

www.discovermagazine.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 12d

Crouching Parrot, Hidden Louse:
The Kyloring (Pezoporus flaviventris) is a critically endangered species of Australian parrot, and it is host to Forficuloecus pezopori - a species of louse which lives only on the Kyloring and nowhere else.
#Invertebrate 🧪
dailyparasite.blogspot.com/2024/06/forf...

Forficuloecus pezopori

Parasites are a major part of biodiversity, but they spend most of their time hidden in plain sight. Even with some animals that have been k...

dailyparasite.blogspot.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 14d

Well, it seems to be a learned behaviour - as reported in that paper, these catfish are introduced and do not display such behaviour on their native ranges, possibly because they have a lot of other prey that do not require such hunting style.

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 14d

My co-worker told me about the time when she saw a duckling being eaten by a large carp at a pond - which gave me an opportunity to tell her about the giant catfish that hunts pigeons.

See the paper about this behaviour here: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... 🧪

www.youtube.com/watch?v=on7c...

The Fish That Hunts Pigeons | Planet Earth II | BBC Earth

YouTube video by BBC Earth

www.youtube.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 14d

It'll be the fly getting eaten by a giant trevally instead of a tern - that fishing fly will saving the terns from a GT's maw

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 14d

Every time I watch this video, it makes me want to tie a giant saltwater surface fly that mimics a fledgling tern, and name the pattern something like "Tasty Tern"
www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4px...

Bird vs Fish | Blue Planet II

YouTube video by BBC Earth

www.youtube.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 16d

Damn, that story is so tragic.

(BTW I have no plans on making crabmen - I don't work well with sculptures, I don't even particularly like assembling model kits let alone shaping shells or bones into artistic creations)

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 16d

Incidentally while looking up crab shells and pollutants, I found there are studies into using crab shells as a way of removing pollutants from water www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Crab shell for the removal of heavy metals from aqueous solution

The ability of crab shell to remove heavy metals from aqueous solution was evaluated by comparing with that of several sorbents (cation exchange resin…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 16d

I want to think whoever that's making it was wearing a mask while doing that.
I decided to look up mussel shells and found this study about them accumulating trace metals link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I think because of how crustaceans grow their shells, it's a bit different.

Shell layer variation in trace element concentration for the freshwater bivalve Elliptio complanata - Geo-Marine Letters

While the elemental chemistry of marine mollusk shells contains valuable environmental information, extending these interpretations to freshwater bivalve shells may be problematic, given the wide rang...

link.springer.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 16d

🦀🦀🦀 CRABMAN 🦀🦀🦀
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bV5f...

Homemade Armored Crabman Using Crabs 🦀♻️🙏

YouTube video by Minimaus Crafts

www.youtube.com

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 17d

But if you combine 鰂 with "烏" (Wu, which roughly translates into "dark", you get 烏鰂 which is one of the Chinese name for cuttlefish.
When I separate out the 鰂, 魚 (fish), and 涌 (surge/gush) characters and enter them into separate lines, I get this

Screenshot of Google Translate result for the characters 鰂, 魚, and 涌, all on a separate line, which are just translated into "Quarry Bay" twice

Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 17d

Yeah, google translates is so weird sometimes. And it's really frustrating when you know what it's wrong and you're trying to work out why.
Like with Chinese, I usually try to break it down to individual characters, but in this case even when I looked up 鰂, it still gives me "Quarry"

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Veeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 17d

So 鰂魚 is the Chinese name for crucian carp (Carassius carassius), but if you look it up on Google Translate, it translates it into "Quarry", possibly because it has associated that word with Quarry Bay (鰂魚涌) in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island.

So, yay machine translation???

Screenshot of Google Translate result which translated "鰂魚" into "Quarry".

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