49 Have Spoken

Icthyoid Alien

Posted by Ross Rosenberg

Cymothoa exigua is a parasitic crustacean like no other, as it does not just live in its host but actually replaces part of it. First it attaches itself at the base of the tongue of the chosen fish, with the claws on its front three pairs of legs, and begins to extract blood. As the parasite grows, less and less blood is able to reach the tongue, and eventually the organ atrophies and dies, at which time the parasite attaches to the muscles of the tongue stub replacing the tongue with its own body. The fish is able to use the parasite as a fully functional tongue and the parasite survives on food particles, relieving the stress on the host’s appropriated circulatory system.

The replacement tongue [polyscience.org] : Spluch

Categories: Animals, Science, Nature, Aliens
Posted at 9:58 am on October 26, 2007
49 Comments -

49 COMMENTS ARE NOT ENOUGH

No comments? Louse got your tongue?

Comment by kimi — October 26, 2007 @ 10:33 am

*groan*

Comment by Susannah — October 26, 2007 @ 11:13 am

Gotta love the Google ads this post generated. But I really should know better than to check Ectoplasmosis’ updates three minutes after eating.

Comment by Robert — October 26, 2007 @ 1:25 pm

@Susannah - someone had to do it.

Comment by kimi — October 26, 2007 @ 2:16 pm

That… is nightmarishly creepy. What if that parasite could invade humans? What if you meet someone, and in the middle of a passionate embrace, your tongue slips over some chitinous scales on… her…

/hides under bed

Comment by optical — October 26, 2007 @ 2:51 pm

ahhh parasites, always a fascinating subject ;)

Comment by yhancik — October 26, 2007 @ 3:32 pm

SHUDDER

Comment by Craig — October 26, 2007 @ 4:54 pm

Ugh.

Comment by Mike — October 26, 2007 @ 5:06 pm

If it gave me the ability to speak and understand all languages like a babelfish I’d sign up immediately.

Comment by Qais Fulton — October 26, 2007 @ 7:12 pm

Well, now that you mention it.. french/japanese/dutch/swahili/german/polish/esperanto kissing, mmmhhhhh.

Comment by optical — October 27, 2007 @ 12:49 am

optical: You say that like it’s a bad thing.

Comment by Jilder — October 27, 2007 @ 11:37 pm

I call bullshit.

Comment by Eric — October 28, 2007 @ 6:35 am

Is this for real?

Comment by drez — October 29, 2007 @ 7:20 pm

It’s evidently for real; there’s a Wikipedia article with links to relatively reputable sources.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=719

Comment by Benjamin Rooney — October 30, 2007 @ 5:58 am

You bet your pooper it’s real.

I think it crawled out of William S Burroughs’s ass.

Comment by El Tiburon — October 31, 2007 @ 4:50 am

Cool! So it can live on both blood and food particles? I’d think that the blood would be a more worthwhile nutrient source.

Comment by El Capitan — October 31, 2007 @ 11:59 am

if the fish benefits at all from the existence of this crustacean then technically it isn’t really a parasite… according to what the article describes, the fish and this little wormy thingy have a symbiotic relationship

Comment by bastos — October 31, 2007 @ 1:32 pm

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Pingback by Can a parasite be a indispensable part of you « blog at 2 — October 31, 2007 @ 6:56 pm

Its not symbiosis, its commensalism. In symbiosis, both organisms benefit. In commensalism, one benefits and nothing happens to the other. Though of course, for a time it would be parasitism.

Comment by Jack — November 1, 2007 @ 1:25 am

If you want to get extra-technical, they’re all forms of symbiosis. You meant mutualism, above. Regardless, it’s a parasite.

Comment by Jordan — November 1, 2007 @ 1:56 am

At least, it’s leaving control to the fish.

Comment by Charles — November 1, 2007 @ 10:33 pm

It wouldn’t work on people because we have hands to pull it off our tongue as soon as it latched on.

Bet those fishes wished they hadn’t evolved fins now, hah!

Comment by Nestor — November 2, 2007 @ 11:01 am

I for one, welcome our new parasitic overlords!

Comment by skaffen — November 3, 2007 @ 7:31 am

So, does that mean the tonguecrab craps part of the fish’s meal down it’s throat? Wow. My ex never let me meet her family, and now I know why.

Comment by Mercurin — November 3, 2007 @ 3:47 pm

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Pingback by ThinkBlog » Identity Crisis — November 7, 2007 @ 8:11 am

damn thats nasty

Comment by scared of tongue people — November 7, 2007 @ 8:48 pm

ewe! gross one. parasites are still parasites. but this one isn’t a freerider. it does its part of the job.

Comment by tam — November 7, 2007 @ 10:06 pm

[…] ectoplasmosis » Icthyoid Alien […]

Pingback by Icthyoid Alien « A Disorganised Mind — November 7, 2007 @ 11:14 pm

you find the most fascinating things when it comes to the world of Parisitology!

Comment by Tiffony — November 10, 2007 @ 10:50 am

Anybody heard of the parasite that makes ants attach themselves to flowers so that cows eat them ? This way the parasite reaches its 2nd host, the cow. It’s like the parasites turn ants into suicidal zombies !

Comment by Dave — November 10, 2007 @ 2:44 pm

If you are able to find a source on the parasite/ant/cow phenomenon, please let me know. No more will I say “Cat got your tongue?”, but rather “How is your parasite doing?” Thanks for the post.

Comment by Matthew — November 10, 2007 @ 6:34 pm

holy shit

Comment by Emma — November 11, 2007 @ 3:22 pm

I think it’s quite amazing at what our awesome creator God has made!

Comment by JohnOfNarnia — November 12, 2007 @ 4:45 pm

just when I’d thought I’d seen everything…

Comment by Christine — November 12, 2007 @ 8:56 pm

this is my kind of blog.

Comment by Carcosa — November 23, 2007 @ 12:52 am

One of the many reasons I don’t eat seafood…still, a fascinating example of EVOLUTION.

Comment by Allison — November 23, 2007 @ 9:57 pm

Just wonderful to see whats really going on in the life of a fish, LOL.

Comment by Kevin — November 23, 2007 @ 10:54 pm

Cool! There is a fungus called the coticep that possesses an ant and makes it climb to a very tall place. Then the fungus gross out the back of the ant’s head to release its spores, just like in sci-fi movies! I saw this on an episode of Planet Earth.

Comment by Amme — December 7, 2007 @ 7:20 pm

Cool! There is a fungus called the corticep that possesses an ant and makes it climb to a very tall place. Then the fungus gross out the back of the ant’s head to release its spores, just like in sci-fi movies! I saw this on an episode of Planet Earth.

Comment by Amme — December 7, 2007 @ 7:21 pm

Oops! Anyways, that photo looks really cool! But I have a question. Are viruses parasites even though they aren’t actually alive?

Comment by Amme — December 7, 2007 @ 7:51 pm

omg thats crazy!, thank god theres nothing like that now :-S atleast on land

Comment by Nate — December 14, 2007 @ 5:07 am

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Pingback by ectoplasmosis » Parasitical — December 19, 2007 @ 4:57 pm