Ceti eels are a fictional animal featured in the Star Trek film and television franchise. They were introduced in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and were used as a central plot device in the movie.
Ceti eels are small larva-like parasites that are native to the planet Ceti Alpha V. Unlike other animal organisms, it is their young which are actually the most dangerous. As once described by Khan Noonien Singh, "You see, their young enter through the ears and wrap themselves around the cerebral cortex. This has the effect of rendering the victim extremely susceptible to suggestion. Later, as they grow, follows madness and death."
Khan Noonien Singh, his wife Marla McGivers and many of his augment followers were marooned on Ceti Alpha V after a failed attempt to take control of the Federation starship USS Enterprise from it's captain, James T. Kirk in 2267. In 2268, the planet's sister world Ceti Alpha VI exploded, shifting Ceti Alpha V out of it's orbit and causing great geological upheaval. Khan and his followers managed to survive, as well as a small reserve of ceti eels, which Khan kept as "pets". Through the actions of a traitorous augment, a ceti eel was placed into the ear of Marla McGivers and she died soon after.
On Stardate 8130.3, in the year 2285, an expedition led by Starfleet captain Clark Terrell and Commander Pavel Chekov came to Ceti Alpha V mistakenly believing that they were actually on Ceti Alpha VI. Khan discovered them and knew that Chekov had a connection to Captain Kirk, whom he still resented for abandoning him on Ceti Alpha V fifteen years earlier. He decided to use them as sleeper agents to assassinate Kirk and planted a ceti eel into each of their ears. Terrell and Chekov met up with Kirk, but despite the mind-controlling influence of the ceti eel, could not bring himself to kill him. Instead, Terrell turned his own phaser on himself and sacrificed his own life. The other crew members of the Enterprise were able to safely remove the ceti eel from Chekov without causing him any long-term harm.
Notes & Trivia[]
- On the TV series Supernatural, an antagonist known as Eve, the self-proclaimed mother of monsters creates a black eel-like insect that takes possession of human victims. One of the show's two main protagonists, Dean Winchester (played by Dark Angel actor Jensen Ackles) refers to them as "Khan eels".