The next time you go fishing, you may want to look in the mouth of your best catch before putting him in the frying pan!  After all, you just never know when a tongue eating louse could be calling a fish his home.

Indeed, the parasitic crustacean Cymothoa Exigua is a nasty little creature who will enter a fish’s mouth and attach itself to the base of the tongue.  The tongue loses blood flow and soon falls off, enabling the parasite to take its place.

From there the fish uses the parasite just like a regular tongue while the Cymothoa Exigua either drinks the fish’s blood or feed on its mucus. This is the only known parasite to take the place of a host’s organ, and we say thank heaven for that.

The Cymothoa Exigua is not perceived as dangerous to humans, although it can bestow a nasty bite if picked up alive.  EW.

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