Credit: Galveston Island State Park, Texas Parks and Wildlife/Facebook
Unidentified person from Galveston Island Sate Park posted a photo of a fish caught there on Facebook. It has no natural tongue. It has a tongue that is made of parasites, known as a tongue eating louse. The picture shows the fish with its mouth open, showing the foreign tongue inside.
Mark Fisher, a Coastal Fisheries official, said to members of the media that the parasite was not as common as it seems. He also noted that it is quite common among some lesser-known species like the spotted seatrout and the red drum, which live off the coast of Texas. The Atlantic croaker is the fish in this picture. He explains further that the parasite, an isopod crustacean, is related to the pillbug (aka rollypolys), which can be found in many yards throughout America.
It enters the fish's mouth via its gills. Only the female replaces its tongue while the males stay in the gills. He also noted that he hadn't seen the louse in an Atlantic croaker until now. The louse is the only parasite that can completely replace an organ of another creature, he says. The new tongue doesn't seem to cause any harm to the fish or people who might catch it. However, it isn't known what would happen to someone if they ate the parasitic tongue. Fisher points out that there has not been enough research on the parasite to explain its ability to do this feat. Research has previously shown that the parasite doesn't survive on fish food, but rather consumes the mucus inside the fish's mouth.
The picture was shared by the park official on social media, resulting in memes and other interesting stories about the frightening look of the parasitic tongueit's eyes. The original picture was posted by a park official. He described it as a Martian. Other people have described it in more monstrous tones.
In 2014, the International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites & Wildlife published detailed information on the parasite.
Further exploration of Extremely rare parasitic crustacean found in museum shark collection
More information: Galveston Island State Park - Texas Parks and Wildlife: Galveston Island State Park - Texas Parks and Wildlife: www.facebook.com/GalvestonIsla ts/10158143851271610 Nico J. Smit et al, Global diversity of fish parasitic isopod crustaceans of the family Cymothoidae, International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife (2014). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijppaw.2014.03.004
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