There’s a louse that consumes a fish’s tongue and replaces it with itself. Cymothoa exigua was discovered inside the mouth of a red snapper bought from a London market. It enters through the fish’s gills and uses claws to attach itself to the base of the snapper’s tongue and survives by drinking blood from an artery. Once the tongue has been gotten rid of, it attaches itself as a new tongue, and manipulates the fish’s food and consumes the free food particles as the fish eats. Source: Polyscience
Tags: Cymothoa exigua | Louse | Fish
Comments