Tongue-eating bug found in fish A gross creature which gobbles up a fish's tongue and then replaces it with its own body has been found in Britain for the first time.
The bug - which has the scientific name cymothoa exigua - was discovered inside the mouth of a red snapper bought from a London fishmonger. The 3.5cm creature had grabbed onto the fish's tongue and slowly ate away at it until only a stub was left. It then latched onto the stub and became the fish's "replacement tongue".
SWEET MISERABLE JESUS.
O_O
This was the "intelligent symbiote" in Interstellar Pig, except it was a sapient reptile's mouth, but same attachment mechanism, etc.
And the fish suspects NOTHING?!
Remember: it's OK to eat fish, because they don't have any feelings.
What's he going to do? Reach in there and pull it out with his fins?
Yeat lots of rocks and shake his head around a lot.
Maybe he prefers the sentient aftermarket tongue to the OEM one. For effishiency reasons!
Oh THAT'S why he was gargling! Poor guy... Those tongue bugs can be detrimental to a person's career.
Just when you think the world can't get any stranger...
W.T.F.
Surely only a God of Love could design and create such a wonderful creature, a parasite which gnaws off a fish tongue and then attaches itself to the stump in order to snatch a portion of the fishes food! Although I still think the Guinea worm is the best example of the work of Our Lord the benevolent creater and designer of all life.
And what of the candiru?
Ah. Mental note: pee before swimming... especially in Peru.
Dunno how carefully you read that story. The dude was standing only thigh deep in the water. That fucking thing jumped out of the water and climbed into his g-unit. He then failed to fight it off despite, I imagine, excellent motivation.
Stay away from standing water completely.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Mmm... I love me some Guinea Worm...
The guinea worm -- this one strangely knotted -- is coaxed from Malik's ankle during a procedure performed in public. Villagers often make a party out of the worm extractions to get people to attend and learn how to protect themselves.
Yaaay! Worm Extraction Party! WOOO!! Tap the keg! Who is bringing the chips?
Ok, you are officially off my christmas card list.
What do they say? - my other tongue is a sea louse.
Scientists are very excited by the find.
ME TOO!
scientists say the creature does not pose any threat to humans and only attaches itself to fish tongues.
who volunteers for that experiment?
Hey, maybe this creature could be used as a replacement for humans who have lost their tongues in industrial accidents.
Man... that's nightmare material right there.
I could have sworn you already posted this before... I don't know why I have that feeling, but Im almost positive that you posted this before....
how odd....
'twas in a comment on one of his posts two or so back.
ah, ok thanks for the clear up.
That's the last time I put a babelfish to my ear. "Only attaches itself to fish tongues"? Sure. I saw "Wrath of Khan".
Bleh.
I read the subject line and yet kept reading.
I read the body and yet kept reading through comments.
Why god, why do I do this to myself?
Me too. It's like some sort of self-destructive mental ilness, following the links on this Livejournal.
I didn't know fish had tongues. However I must say the article is high on ick factor and low on facts. I can't even tell to which invertebrate phylum this thing belongs, less any other useful info.
yeah, it's children's bbc. you expected maybe a doctoral thesis?
thirty seconds with google turns up useful information.
So what? Its a continuing annoyance of mine that scientific news stories are so general as to be completely baffeling to people who actually know science. All it takes is a little care to mention specific information, not a doctoral thesis.
My point wasn't that the information wasn't widely available, but that it wasn't in the article. :P
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2003-04-01/thea_review.html
...I think god had it out for New Orleans.
Didn't I give you this link in a comment a day ago??
I haven't the slightest idea. Did you write the article for the BBC? Yeah, neither did I.