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Ceti eel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ceti Eel is a fictional inhabitant of planet Ceti Alpha V in the second Star Trek movie, Wrath of Khan. It is the only indigenous creature of Ceti Alpha V to survive after Ceti Alpha VI exploded and sent Ceti Alpha V into a different orbit. After the explosion, the planet was laid waste, and the Ceti Eel, along with Khan and his people, were the only survivors. Ceti Eels incubate their larvae between their protective plates. The slime-covered larvae will seek out a larger animal, enter its skull through the ear and wrap itself around the cerebral cortex. This causes the subject intense pain and makes them susceptible to suggestion. As the larvae grows, the host suffers from insanity and eventual death.
Marla McGivers, Khan Noonien Singh's wife, was killed after becoming a host for one of these creatures while she was in exile on Ceti Alpha V. Twenty of Khan's people were killed in the same fashion. This is one of the reasons that Khan wanted to kill Captain James T. Kirk (while showing that he was superior to him). While Captain Clark Terrell and Commander Pavel Chekov are conducting a close-range sensor scan on the planet (thinking it is Ceti Alpha VI), they are captured by Khan. Khan puts the slimy Ceti Eel larvae into Terrell and Chekov's environmental helmets. The Ceti Eels crawl into the men’s ears and subsequently burrow into their brains. Terrell later kills himself, but Chekov's larva exits his ear (the Ceti Eel had grown quite large).