this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
231 points (90.8% liked)

interestingasfuck

5976 readers
7 users here now

interestingasfuck

founded 1 year ago
 

Cymothoa exigua, or the tongue-eating louse, is a parasitic isopod that severs the blood vessels in a fish's tongue, causing the tongue to fall off. It then attaches itself to the remaining stub of tongue and the parasite itself effectively serves as the fish's new "tongue"

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I never thought a parasite could look this cute

[โ€“] Smoogy@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

It looks weirdly cuter than the fish itself