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- ›Podoplea
- ›Siphon-mouth Copepods
Sea Lice
Caligidae
A sea louse (plural sea lice), often confused with sea fleas, is a member of a family of copepods (small crustaceans) within the order Siphonostomatoida, the Caligidae. There are around 559 species in 37 genera, including approximately 162 Lepeophtheirus and 268 Caligus species. Sea lice are marine ectoparasites (external parasites) that feed on the mucus, epidermal tissue, and blood of host marine fish.
19 branches of this family, most-observed first
Lepeophtheirus
genusLepeophtheirus
Caligus
genusCaligus
Gloiopotes
genusGloiopotes
Paralebion
genusParalebion
Alebion
genusAlebion
Tuxophorus
genusTuxophorus
Pupulina
genusPupulina
Calina
genusCalina
Abasia
genusAbasia
Anuretes
genusAnuretes
Hermilius
genusHermilius
Arrama
genusArrama
Avitocaligus
genusAvitocaligus
Belizia
genusBelizia
Parechetus
genusParechetus
Caligodes
genusCaligodes
Alanlewisia
genusAlanlewisia
Anchicaligus
genusAnchicaligus
Euryphorus
genusEuryphorus
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Caligidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 321542.