Large-Sized Whale Lice Captured on Cam: How Do These Parasites Affect the Health of Humpbacks?

Large lice, similar to the size of a human belly button, have been captured on camera, as they live on humpback whales in the waters of Australia.

Newsweek reported that Annika Dahlberg, working at Blue Dolphin Marine Tours in Hervey Bay, Queensland, took images of the parasitic passengers of the whales, as well as barnacles, on a calf and a mother as they migrated south towards Antarctica for the Southern Hemisphere's summer months.

Dahlberg explained that it is difficult to determine the number of whales seen with the lice as there is a need to take a very close look, although they have been seen on several occasions over the season.

She also said that they usually see the lice right at the front of the face of the whale where they are congregating.

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(Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A humpback whale swims in Disko Bay on August 04, 2019, in Ilulissat, Greenland.

'Cyamus Boopis' Lying on Humpback Whales

Dahlberg also said that a behavior common in Hervey Bay is called "mugging," when the whales approach the boat and stay in close vicinity and frequently do "spyhops," raising their heads out of the water to get a closer look around it. This, she added, is the perfect opportunity for a close look at the face of the whale.

Generally, whales are an attractive hose for parasitic species, with many species that suffer from barnacles growing through their skin and sea lampreys that harvest blood with their sucker-like mouths.

A similar Outsider report said that lice live on many whale species, infesting skin folds such as genitals, eyes, and nostrils, with up to 7,500 individual lice living on a single whale.

Most lice species only live on a single whale species. The lice photographed have the scientific name Cyamus boopis, and exclusively live on humpback whales.

Whale Lice

Dahlberg said they see the lice on both adults and their young, and most whales have only a small population that lives on them "that are visible to us."

The lice look very tiny when one sees them, although when he thinks about whales being up to 50 feet long, he will realize that the lice are quite large. A lot of lice seen would be approximately 10 millimeters.

The lice live their entire lives on whales, never swimming or floating in the water column. They can be transferred by touch between whales, frequently during sexual activity and fighting, and will attempt to attach themselves to humans when handling whales. 

In an ABC News Australia report, Peter Lynch, a tour boat operator, said, when one does get a very ill or injured humpback whale, and its swimming slows down, that whale lice population explodes. 

Covered with Whale Lice

Lynch also said that they had seen, unfortunately, in the past, a very sick humpback come into the bay, and it had a pink coloration appearance. Its whole body was covered in whale lice.

The lice offer some degree of benefit to their host whales, predominantly consuming algae growing on the whale's skin. They feed on flaking skin, as well, and wound areas, nonetheless, which can lead to minor skin damage.

Related information about humpback whale lice is shown on Insectsafari's YouTube video below:

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