Tongue-Eating Louse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOnce the pesky fish tongue is out of the way the parasitic louse will attach itself to the remaining tongue muscles and the fish can actually use the louse as a functioning tongue. Come on!\u00a0 Tell me you are not impressed with this little parasite right now?\u00a0 This has to be the most bizarre but fascinating thing I have heard of in a very long time.\u00a0 This parasite will live out the rest of their life as the tongue of a fish where they will feed on the host’s blood or on the fish mucus.\u00a0 I know, I too was hoping that the tongue would eat the same prey items as the fish.\u00a0 Imagine how confused the fish would be if its tongue was stealing all of its food? This really sounds like it has the makings for a B-Rated horror movie.<\/p>\n
That is the end of another parasitic Wild Fact which means tomorrow will be the last one dedicated to these weird little animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The title of this Wild Fact should have been enough to keep you reading but I have to tell you up front that this post will highlight some of the most bizarre behaviour I have ever witnessed.\u00a0 You are all in for a treat as we discover the Tongue-Eating Louse.\u00a0 We might think this is incredibly interesting but I can guarantee you that the Rose Snapper, a type of fish, does not agree with us. This parasite is a crustacean that tends to be about 3-4 cm (1.2-1.6″) long and is the only known parasite that actually replaces an organ.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4024,276],"tags":[348,534,1055,4025,275,1054,1053],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n