What is 'monster larva' actually?

For nearly two centuries, scientists have not found what is known as the 'monster larva' found in the gut of fish, and whether those thick creatures are grown or not. Now, a biologist said he has found an adult version of the larva.

Larvae have a strange shape (left) is a shrimp species (right). (Source: Livescience)

Biologist Keith Crandall of George Washington University wrote in Ecology and Evolution magazine that Cerataspis monstrosa larvae are actually the "childhood" of a deep-water Plesiopenaeus armatus .

Finding the connection between larvae and adult organisms is not easy because they look different. C. monstrosa larvae are thick inside the armor and have strange beards. Yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna and dolphins are very fond of 'monstrous and out of shape' animals of C. monstrosa, so scientists found many of these larvae in their gut.

As adults, the Plesiopenaeu shrimp species live in the Atlantic Ocean, which looks close to lobster.

Biologist Crandall has been collecting DNA information of crustaceans for many years, creating a database to compare genes of Cerataspis and Plesiopenaeu. They found that 99.96% of the five genes of the two organisms are the same.