1 The Piranha-Like Bugs Are Biting Swimmers in San Diego
According to multiple reports, water-line isopods (Excirolana chiltoni) have been biting at the ankles of swimmers and leaving them in serious pain. Per Walla Walla University the blood-drawing bugs reportedly look like shrimp and are a somewhat common species that can grow up to 0.3 inches and form swarms of 1,000.  2 “It Was Like Small Piranhas Had Bit Me”
San Diego resident Tara Sauvage tells CBS8 San Diego that being bit by one of the buggers was “painful” and “surprising.” She said: “I had blood all over my foot and in between my toes. It was like small piranhas had bit me.” After the bite, she rinsed her feet off, and luckily, the pain went away in 15 to 20 minutes.  3 They Like to Eat “Fresh Meat”
Apparently, they have a thing for humans and animals alike. “They like to eat fresh meat like a dying animal or battered animal,” added Ryan Hechinger, a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “They are totally known to bite people.” 4 They Eat Dead Fish
However, in the bigger scheme of things, they help out more than they harm, says Hechinger. He deems them a crucial part of the underwater “ecosystem,” equating them to aquatic custodians. “They’re nothing bad,” he said “They eat dead fish so it doesn’t stink like dead fish in the water.” 5 A Swarm Can Take Chunks Out of Skin
ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb While getting bitten by one isn’t going to result in a serious injury, if you encounter a swarm of them it could be like a scene out of a horror movie. A teen swimmer in Melbourne, Australia, learned this the hard way in 2017, when he encountered a swarm of them who took out chunks of his skin, according to a BBC report. “It’s only when you get the potential for hundreds or thousands of them to start biting you, for a long period, that you get the type of injury that [he] had,” professor Richard Reina, from Monash University, Australia, explained at the time. “Unless you’re effectively numb, [usually] you’re going to notice and get out of the water before that happens.”