Fish-Sucking Parasite Named After Bob Marley

July 18, 2012

A Caribbean fish known as the French grunt that is infested with gnathiids, a blood-sucking parasite named after singer Bob Marley. (Credit: Elizabeth Brill)

A parasitic blood-sucking crustacean recently discovered in Caribbean waters off the Virgin Islands could advance our understanding of how disease is transmitted among marine animals, and may play a role in transmitting a malaria-like fish disease which weakens the animal’s immune system.

The new species is called Gnathia marleyi, named in honor of the late reggae star, Bob Marley.

Lead researcher Paul Sikkel, a marine biologist at Arkansas State University with a passion for Marley’s music, says the parasitic marleyi is the first new find in the crustacean-like gnathiid family in two decades.

“What’s interesting about them is that they are only parasitic in the juvenile stage," Sikkel says. "They only feed when they are juveniles, and they go through three different juvenile stages, one bigger than the other and they look a little bit like ticks or fleas. They look very similar to terrestrial blood feeding organisms.”

Sikkel captured the juvenile marleyi at a so-called cleaning station. That’s a place on the reef where big fish gather so smaller fish and shrimp can nibble away at the parasites, including juvenile marleyi, that attach to the skin of big fish.