Scott MacAdam
Fish Addict
Wow this is messed up.....
here is the article, and a picture below...
Bug Eats Fish Tongue. Then Becomes Fish Tongue
Cymothoa Exigua The BBC reports that a bizarre bug that literally eats the tongue of a fish and then manuevers itself to become the "replacement tongue" for the fish has now been discovered in Britain.
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".
The BBC article says that scientists claim the bugs only eat fish tongues which is good news for us humans. More information about the unusual bug (cymothoa exigua) can be found here.
Found this as well....
Scientific Name Cymothoa exigua
Comments The tongue-eating isopod causes degeneration of the tongue of its host fish, the rose snapper, Lutjanus guttatus, and it then attaches to the remaining tongue stub and floor of the fish's mouth by hook-like pereopods. In this position the isopod superficially resembles its host's missing tongue. Brusca & Gilligan (1983) hypothesize that these isopods serve as a mechanical replacement for the fish's tongue and represent the first known case in animals of functional replacement of a host structure by a parasite. This relationship is so-far known only from the Gulf of California.
here is the article, and a picture below...
Bug Eats Fish Tongue. Then Becomes Fish Tongue
Cymothoa Exigua The BBC reports that a bizarre bug that literally eats the tongue of a fish and then manuevers itself to become the "replacement tongue" for the fish has now been discovered in Britain.
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".
The BBC article says that scientists claim the bugs only eat fish tongues which is good news for us humans. More information about the unusual bug (cymothoa exigua) can be found here.
Found this as well....
Scientific Name Cymothoa exigua
Comments The tongue-eating isopod causes degeneration of the tongue of its host fish, the rose snapper, Lutjanus guttatus, and it then attaches to the remaining tongue stub and floor of the fish's mouth by hook-like pereopods. In this position the isopod superficially resembles its host's missing tongue. Brusca & Gilligan (1983) hypothesize that these isopods serve as a mechanical replacement for the fish's tongue and represent the first known case in animals of functional replacement of a host structure by a parasite. This relationship is so-far known only from the Gulf of California.
