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Cymothoa exigua - DeeBye - 01-29-2006
![[Image: tongueeater7mw.jpg]](http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/4862/tongueeater7mw.jpg)
The little fella you see in this Red Snapper's mouth is a parasitic crustacean known as Cymothoa exigua. It is also known as a Tongue Biter. It attaches itself to the tongue of a fish and feeds on the bloodflow. The tongue eventually atrophies, dies and falls off. Cymothoa exigua eventually replaces the host's tongue.
Here is a picture of a poor fish with two of these little buggers.
edit: after further consideration, this picture is a photoshop. Withdrawn.
Here's a picture of host and parasite with part of the host's jaw removed to show what it looks like in profile.
![[Image: tbiter28tz.jpg]](http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/4599/tbiter28tz.jpg)
Cymothoa exigua apparently causes no further harm to the host fish other than the loss of tongue. I can only imagine how excrutiatingly irritating it must be to have a parasitic crustacean as a tongue. Heck, my own tongue bothers me when I think about it too much. I sometimes get the idea that my tongue just doesn't fit my mouth quite right, and then I almost go crazy fixating on that notion. Having a bug as a tongue would drive me to suicide.
The ocean scares me sometimes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4...000/4209004.stm
Cymothoa exigua - Rinnhart - 01-29-2006
This post made me think of BloopWatch.org, a site that posts strange news articles collected from the web and offers the occasional amusing correlation to Lovecraft stories and mythos.
Wondering if anything odd had been posted recently, I clicked my BloopWatch bookmark for the first time in several months and was dismayed to find a generic ISP page with BloopWatch.org splashed across the top. It seems, BloopWatch has died.
I am sad.
And I agree; having a crustacean for a tongue would suck.
Cymothoa exigua - Chaerophon - 01-29-2006
That is one of the most disgusting and disturbing things I've ever seen (of course, there is tubgirl...). I don't know why, but that really gets me...
Cymothoa exigua - Doc - 01-29-2006
In Japan, they like to eat those things. I read about that in a book. They cook the fish up whole, with that nasty thing right there in its mouth, and then everybody around the table at the meal decides in one form or another who gets the tasty treat. And then that person plucks it out of the mouth and it's it.
Just pops it in their mouth, shell and all, and crunches it up.
Now pardon me while I go blow chunks.
Cymothoa exigua - Grayloch - 01-29-2006
Thanks, DeeBye. I was having breakfast when I clicked on this topic.
-G.
Cymothoa exigua - DeeBye - 01-30-2006
Doc,Jan 29 2006, 04:28 AM Wrote:In Japan, they like to eat those things. I read about that in a book. They cook the fish up whole, with that nasty thing right there in its mouth, and then everybody around the table at the meal decides in one form or another who gets the tasty treat. And then that person plucks it out of the mouth and it's it.
Just pops it in their mouth, shell and all, and crunches it up.
Now pardon me while I go blow chunks.
[right][snapback]100424[/snapback][/right]
I betcha it tastes great. I've never met an ocean crusatacean that I didn't like. It probably tastes like a shrimp.
Cymothoa exigua - eppie - 01-30-2006
Well, that made me lose my appetite for a while...
Are you sure you wont consider starting political threads like a good lurker? :D
Cymothoa exigua - jahcs - 01-30-2006
This thread needs a warning label for those of us with delicate constitutions.
I can handle some pretty disgusting things but others cut right to the quick. :P
Cymothoa exigua - Doc - 01-30-2006
Can't be any worse than a fish that likes to swim up your penis. :blink: :wacko:
Cymothoa exigua - Mithrandir - 01-30-2006
I'd just like to take this opportunity to state that evolution is amazing and awe-inspiring.
Cymothoa exigua - ima_nerd - 01-30-2006
Quote:I'd just like to take this opportunity to state that evolution is amazing and awe-inspiring.
Let the debate begin!
*runs for cover*
Cymothoa exigua - Mithrandir - 01-31-2006
ima_nerd,Jan 30 2006, 05:51 PM Wrote:Let the debate begin!
*runs for cover*
[right][snapback]100550[/snapback][/right]
Oops.
Cymothoa exigua - Dako-ta - 01-31-2006
Hi, Doc,
:D When I read this last night, I had the same thought, but didn't have time right then to search for a relevant article. And, tonight when I return, I find you've made it unnecessary for me to do so.
Interesting how this story tends to stick like Super Glue in the mind of every guy who hears it... :whistling:
To Mithrander: "evolution is amazing and awe-inspiring." Amen, brother! B)
The biology of single organisms is amazing enough - but get into symbiosis ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbiosis ) and you can find even more fantistic things.
Aah, the "stories" I've come across over the years... :)
I once gave a talk to a botany club that I titled "Lichens: the ultimate symbiosis?"
But there are lots of fascinating "stories" found in other groups of organisms, too, as DeeBye's post shows...
Regards,
Dako-ta
[insert profound quote here]
Cymothoa exigua - Premezilla - 01-31-2006
Chaerophon,Jan 28 2006, 09:57 PM Wrote:That is one of the most disgusting and disturbing things I've ever seen (of course, there is tubgirl...). I don't know why, but that really gets me...
[right][snapback]100423[/snapback][/right]
....
.......
.........what the heck is a tubgirl?
*EDIT*
Sweet jesus mother of pearl. That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen in my life. My skin is still crawling.
UGH! ARGH! SCATS GALORE! I DON'T WANT NONE AND I DON'T WANT MORE!
tubgirl sucks.
really.
Cymothoa exigua - Mithrandir - 01-31-2006
Premezilla,Jan 31 2006, 12:41 AM Wrote:....
.......
.........what the heck is a tubgirl?
[right][snapback]100575[/snapback][/right]
Famous last words... everyone's gotta see it at least once I suppose.
Every day the internet re-affirms to me that, at the core, it's really just a big meeting place for all the people of the world to meet and be weird in (relative) anonymity.
Cymothoa exigua - Doc - 01-31-2006
I work as a forum admin in another place, and had to deal with a "Lemon Party" outbreak recently.
Worse than tubgirl.
Just... Worse. Stab your eyes out with a dinner fork kind of worse.
Gah :blink: :wacko:
Edit. Mod. Mod. So totally not awake. I do not have mystical admin powers. Yet. <_<
Cymothoa exigua - Zarathustra - 01-31-2006
Very interesting. But at least it doesn't brainwash the fish into killing itself.
Now that's a scary parasite.
Edit/Addition: Here is a site with a video of the parasite at work.
Cymothoa exigua - NiteFox - 01-31-2006
Am I the only one on this forum that thinks that this wee little critter in the first pic actually looks pretty cute?
Lookatim, snuggled up nice and comfy in that mean red snapper's mouth.
Cymothoa exigua - Chaerophon - 02-01-2006
Sorry. You'll never be the same, and it's all my fault. You were very lucky not to have come across that until now!
Cymothoa exigua - DeeBye - 02-01-2006
Chaerophon,Feb 1 2006, 02:24 AM Wrote:Sorry. You'll never be the same, and it's all my fault. You were very lucky not to have come across that until now!
[right][snapback]100711[/snapback][/right]
mrhands.mpg is even worse
Don't say I didn't warn you.