I will never cease to wonder at the wonders and cunning of nature. No man, be he of the divine origin, can come up with such sophisticated ways of survival that can be found among animals and plants. Bacteria living in poisonous waters ... Luxurious orchid flowers stinking of rotten meat ... A bird cleaning teeth with a crocodile ... We met one such "specimen" in the summer when we rested on the coast of California. This miracle is called, as we later found out, Cymothoa exigua. Local fishermen told us that there is a "devourer" of the language here. He can get into the body of a person who eats raw fish, and sometimes strikes malicious liars, completely eating their tongue. We laughed at the local horror story and quickly forgot about it. However, a couple of days later I had to remember the story again. We went fishing. The fish were caught perfectly. Men without end pulled out more and more individuals from the abyss, we sunbathed, and the children played with the caught fish. Suddenly a five-year-old boy yelped violently and almost fell out of the boat. He shook convulsively with his hand and roared that there was strength. Only after a few minutes we realized that he was strongly bitten by the fish. The boy's mother grabbed the fish, pointed to by his son, to see what teeth she had. And she screamed no more quietly than her beginner calming down baby. It turned out that the fish in place of the tongue in the mouth was a crustacean about 4 cm in length. He also bitten willing to look fish in the mouth. It turned out that this is Cymothoa exigua - a parasite, which locals call a "devourer of the tongue". He clung eight pairs of sharp claws to the appendage, which remained with the fish from the tongue. Attempts to remove it from the mouth of the fish were unsuccessful: the mocchrica sat tight, and only sensitive biting the fingers of the brave.
Cymothoa exigua as it is
Now we already know for sure that this crustacean creature finds a suitable fish and attaches itself to its tongue, gradually sucking blood out of it. When the bloodless tongue is atrophied, Cymothoa exigua takes over its functions. It helps the fish to swallow its prey, and continues to feed on the mucus that the "master" allocates, or his blood, which happens much less often. The fish continues to live, even without noticing that instead of the tongue she now has a moccasin. Cymothoa exigua of its carrier does not kill. This is the only case in parasitology, when an individual first suffers from a parasite, and then survives, thanks to it. By the way, fairy tales were fairy tales: Cymothoa exigua is not found in humans. The maximum that he is capable of is to bite the one who inadvertently puts his finger into the mouth of the affected fish. Although, honestly, after the memorable fishing, we almost did not believe in the stories of local fishermen. We experienced and looked for bitten signs of germination of cancer in the tongue. Only when we finally reached the Internet, we could laugh at ourselves and our own fears. Pink lucians, the "favorite" fish of Cymothoa exigua, are found off the coast of California. However, a year ago an individual with a lice in a tongue was caught near the UK. What is it? Are the areas of Cymothoa exigua expanding, or did the tandem come here by accident? Scientists do not yet know the answer, and therefore the individual with the lice on the tongue was placed in the museum of Horniman.