Lernaea is a genus of copepod crustaceans whose members are commonly called anchor worms and are parasitic on freshwater fishes.

Anchor worms mate during the last free-swimming (copepodid) stage of development.

[2] The nauplii will go through three stages before molting into copepodids, which associate with fish gills.

[3] Manual removal of the parasite is one of the surest ways to get rid of it; this can be done by holding the fish in the hand and removing the parasites with a pair of tweezers, being careful not to break the tail off leaving the head embedded and dipping the fish back into water every few seconds so it can breathe.

Sometimes the parasite can burrow so deeply that pulling it out can cause more trauma than leaving it in and just treating it.