Invasion of the Tongue Snatchers!

Written by Alan Bellows on 25 September 2005

Cymothoa exigua Get your gag reflex ready, you’re going to need it.

The Spotted Rose Snapper Fish, which lives off the coast of California, is plagued by what must be one of the most disturbing parasites in all of nature. The crustacean parasite, called Cymothoa exigua, enters the fish’s mouth and leeches blood from the fish’s tongue until the muscle atrophies and dies. The parasite then attaches itself to the withered tongue-stump, and acts as a working replacement for the organ, spending the rest of its life living off bits of food that enter the fish’s mouth.

The Cymothoa exigua is the only parasite known to effectively replace a body organ.

Wikipedia Article
BBC News Article

Alan Bellows is the founder, designer, and managing editor of DamnInteresting.com, and he is perpetually behind schedule.


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#1 gorgeousplanet 07 February 2006 at 04:50 am

WOW! How come no one else has commented on this?! IT’S INCREDIBLE!!!

#2 Chory 13 March 2006 at 01:14 pm

We’re speachless, and perhaps a bit afraid of exposing our tongues.

#3 Haywood Jablome 07 April 2006 at 02:52 pm

This is just down right disturbing. But at the same time extremely damn interesting. I can’t help but to put myself in the fish’s shoes. I bet the feeling of a parasite in your mouth that you can do nothing about is very unpleasant. The look on the fish’s face says it all……”WTF?!”

#4 CauselessEffect 18 June 2006 at 01:37 am

Abu Ibrahim gave this link in “Mind-Controlling Wasps and Zombie Spiders”:

http://www.bogleech.com/bio.html

This site includes this creature as well as tons of other really strange ones. Thanks for that link Abu, cool information.

#5 Mez 01 October 2006 at 02:41 am

Chory said: “We’re speachless”

Well that comment is a bit tongue-in-cheek.

#6 Dottie1985 03 October 2006 at 07:42 pm

Ok that is just disgusting! That’s all I have to say about that…

#7 LoveTheOnesYouNeed 25 October 2006 at 11:58 am

Nature is wonderfully cruel isn’t it?

#8 Drakvil 04 November 2006 at 11:06 pm

Wow, I’m not opening my mouth in the water again for the rest of my life.

It’s really interesting going through the archives and seeing how this site has evolved over the last year. I’m glad that the newer articles are longer, it shows the growth and maturation of the staff of this wonderful site.

#9 JamesCuthbert 30 January 2007 at 05:44 am

Sometimes I think an organ of mine might have a mind of its own!!

#10 dhpye 24 September 2007 at 01:21 pm

Horrifying, but not unique: newsia (foxus) is a fire-spitting, bile-secreting parasite which often replaces the tongues of media.

#11 DanThinksDances&femaleGspot 20 July 2008 at 10:51 pm

Enter your reply text here. OK

Good read. What else is new, natural world explainations are always genuine good stuff.

People shut up and stop being afraid. One day of fright and then back into the water.

#12 Cyber Rodent 25 March 2009 at 07:26 pm

I have one of these critters at home. It is dried out but quite well preserved. When i was a child of about 8, my neightbour had brought some fish back that they had caught locally. I remember this thing came crawling out of the fish’s mouth. It was so odd that I grabbed it and kept it in a matchbox padded with cottton wool (it took a while to finally stop moving, but thereafter dried out quite nicely). I never though to look to see if the fish had a tongue at the time (In fact I’ve never known what it was until now – I just figured it was some arthropod gill parasite). I’m pretty sure the fish was a snapper, but it well out of it’s expected range being as I live in New Zealand… I still have the thing.

#13 bubaks 04 June 2009 at 08:29 am

Wow. That is one freaky little critter. Its a good thing u got the bug out before u cooked the fish!

#14 sillyabstitutions 08 July 2009 at 05:07 pm

I wonder if the shortness of the article has anything to do with the time of the posting.
I wonder.

Reverie in the theatre of her mind.

#15 Sirius 20 July 2009 at 03:23 pm

Aaah,,, perfect solution for tissue engineering!

#16 dragondm6 03 September 2009 at 02:16 pm

I’m guessing that the non-infected school of fish probably let the infected ones go their own way. Plus i’d imagine it’s awkward to try to keep a conversation going with a buddy who’s just lost his tongue.

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Invasion of the Tongue Snatchers!