This article was originally published at The Conversation.The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Meet a parasite that can create its own mobile nursery for its young, a parasite that is thought to be the inspiration behind the chest-bursting xenomorph in the film Alien. Meet Phronima, the pram-pushing, barrel-riding parasite.
These tiny creatures are found throughout the world’s oceans, except polar regions, swimming in open water. This sets them apart from their relatives, crabs for example, which typically stick to the safe confines of the seabed. Phronima has broken free of the sea floor, taking advantage of another sea creature, the salp, to survive in the open water.
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