Tongue-eating louse

The tongue-eating louse, or to be more scientific Cymothoa exigua. These little creatures are about 3-4cm long, usually found around California however during 2005 a fish parasitised by what could be Cymothoa exigua was found in the United Kingdom. This is so far an isolated incident and believed to have traveled from the Gulf of California in a snapper's mouth, the one in question will be put on display in the Horniman Museum (this is what Wikipedia reports, however I travelled to the museum about a month ago and saw no evidence of it anywhere, although this article is now five years old). 

Now for more details on the parasitic crustacean. It enters the host via its gills, then attaches itself onto the base of the spotted rose snapper's (click here to read more) tongue. Then, using it's claws it removes blood from the tongue causing it to atrophy from lack of blood. The louse is then able to attached itself to the fish's muscles and completely replace the tongue. 

Once this is done it proceeds to feed from the host's blood and many feast on fish mucus. This is the only known parasite to replace a host's organ. Other than this no other damage is believed to be inflicted on the fish. 


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