…and this is a 
There's a familiar beast plaguing the fish of the Jersey coast: a tongue-eating isopod.
Mr Chambers told BBC Jersey: "When we emptied the fish bag out there at the bottom was this incredibly ugly looking isopod.
"Really quite large, really quite hideous - if you turn it over its got dozens of these really sharp, nasty claws underneath and I thought 'that's a bit of a nasty beast'.
"I struggled for weeks to find an identification for this thing until, quite by chance I stumbled across something that looked similar in a Victorian journal.
"Apparently there's not too much ill effect to the fish itself except it's lost its tongue."
As we scientists like to say in our inimitably technical manner: ewwwww.
Life Science
Comments
Posted by: Carlie | September 11, 2009 7:07 PM
Paging Carl Zimmer...
Posted by: Jody | September 11, 2009 7:07 PM
Ah, good. I'd been sleeping far too peacefully as of late.
Posted by: Deiloh
|
September 11, 2009 7:10 PM
Aw, it smiled for the camera... how nice.
Posted by: Lau P. | September 11, 2009 7:11 PM
So... beyond fucked up? :P
Posted by: Johnny Bermuda | September 11, 2009 7:12 PM
What's an isopod? Some kind of fish? Never heard of thems before...
Posted by: Lynna | September 11, 2009 7:12 PM
Everything happens for a reason. /sarcasm
Posted by: CatBallou
|
September 11, 2009 7:12 PM
Bad news--you've ruined my appetite.
Good news--I've lost five pounds just looking at that thing.
The real world is even more horrifying than I thought. And I didn't even know that fish had tongues, let alone teeth that look suspiciously like a human's. A human who smokes.
Posted by: Holbach | September 11, 2009 7:16 PM
Get a freaking preist to identify it. "Oh no, it's not one of god's creations." Moron.
Posted by: Mark G. | September 11, 2009 7:17 PM
This is quite a contrast vs. the earlier cutie with the big eyes. All I can say is, there will be an example of this little beast found in someone's rectum in the near future ...
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 7:17 PM
God has delivered such a wonderful diversity of life to this Earth.
Posted by: RKD | September 11, 2009 7:17 PM
It's an Alien for god's sake! Run for your lives!
Posted by: Krystalline Apostate | September 11, 2009 7:18 PM
So...the abstract question I have about this tiny nightmare is...can fish taste? \
Or do tongueless tetrapods dream of tartar sauce?
Posted by: Rick R | September 11, 2009 7:18 PM
It looks like a little James Bond villain, gloating over its plans for world domination.
Posted by: Randy | September 11, 2009 7:18 PM
I think he's cute. He probably wouldn't make much of a conversationalist though... he appears toungue tied.
Posted by: IaMoL | September 11, 2009 7:19 PM
Okay... what's up with that fish's top teeth?!! Someone's photoshopping.
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 7:20 PM
Do we have a thread winner already?
Posted by: truebutnotuseful | September 11, 2009 7:20 PM
Jesus H. Tongue-Eating Isopod Christ.
*shudder*
Posted by: CJO | September 11, 2009 7:21 PM
"Roly-polys" (what we called them as kids) are isopods I think. Also called pillbugs, and --maybe this is the same thing?-- wood lice. Or are wood lice a different kind of isopod?
Did not know their relatives lived in fishes' mouths. Not sure how my newfound knowledge helps me at all, but I'm thoroughly creeped out.
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 7:22 PM
If you like this sort of thing, there's a book you'll just love:
Parasites and the Behavior of Animals by Janice Moore
Posted by: Carlie | September 11, 2009 7:22 PM
Now that is some Hungarian bat-eating tit crazy right there.
Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | September 11, 2009 7:24 PM
holy fuck, it's an Alien.
also, the position of face and first set of legs(?) reminds me of this
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 7:25 PM
Pillbugs came up at lunch today (yeah, better not to ask...), and someone referred to them as "roly-polies." I had never heard it before.
Posted by: nfpendleton | September 11, 2009 7:26 PM
So much for his tongue, but that fish has straighter teeth than both of my children.
Posted by: David | September 11, 2009 7:29 PM
That's clearly Satan's work, not God's. God only kills firstborns and gays but he doesn't eat fishes tongues. That would be crossing the line to cruel...then again...maybe that fish did nor worship God he sent a plague down on them. Could be God after all on second thought.
Posted by: dp | September 11, 2009 7:29 PM
I discovered one of these once just as I was about to pan-fry my catch. I don't get freaked out by much in nature, but I nearly shat myself when it clattered and scrambled out of the fish's mouth!
Posted by: littlejohn | September 11, 2009 7:30 PM
The next time someone brings up intelligent design, show them that little bastard. Gawd.
Posted by: Itspiningforthefjords
|
September 11, 2009 7:31 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymothoa_exigua
Posted by: Deiloh
|
September 11, 2009 7:31 PM
TEETH:
I don't know what kind of fish this is, however, Sheepshead fish have teeth that look almost human. No photoshop needed.
Posted by: Marc | September 11, 2009 7:32 PM
it's like cracker jacks but with fish and surprise insects instead of tattoos.
Posted by: drjones | September 11, 2009 7:32 PM
That darn sin strikes again!
This thing was a vegetarian before the fall.
Posted by: dp | September 11, 2009 7:32 PM
.. and it really is surprising how it can fit in there as it pretty much fills up the fish's mouth entirely.
Posted by: aratina cage
|
September 11, 2009 7:33 PM
Where is Ripley when we need her?
Posted by: Wowbagger, OM | September 11, 2009 7:37 PM
Thanks, PZ. I was about to make breakfast. Now I'm going to have to wait a bit.
Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | September 11, 2009 7:40 PM
Fractal NOM Nom nom...
A fishy with a brand-new tongue,
An isopod, instead,
So when you open up its mouth
The iso rears its head.
Suppose some bug decides
To camp, at his discretion,
Inside the mouth of isopod?
An infinite regression?
Posted by: William Gulvin | September 11, 2009 7:43 PM
Meh. So who needs Lovecraft when we've got real live critters such as isopods and polychaetes http://tinyurl.com/dhk3pj with which to tickle our horror? Reality is so very much stranger, and awful in its fullest sense, than fiction.
Posted by: Alan E. | September 11, 2009 7:45 PM
I actually saw an article about that one day when I was Stumbling. Even though I'm sure it would give me the creeps for a while, it would be cool to study the whole life cycle of one of those. The creature actually becomes like a tongue mimicking some of the motions and feeding on some of the food coming in.
Posted by: IBY | September 11, 2009 7:46 PM
If scientists say eww, then I bet the rest of the nonscientist folks make a retching noise: "blluuuaarrgg!"
Posted by: Rich | September 11, 2009 7:48 PM
Well... At least it doesn't do the candiru thing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru
Posted by: Izam | September 11, 2009 7:54 PM
I just read the wikipedia article on this thing, and it is cool as fuck. It actually becomes a new tongue for the fish! That is one of the coolest things I've ever heard.
Posted by: steve | September 11, 2009 7:56 PM
What's wrong, isopod got your tongue ?
Posted by: Ring Tailed Lemurian | September 11, 2009 7:57 PM
Doesn't look like a Weaver Fish to me. They're small, generally much paler in colour (I think) and don't have teeth like that, but they DO have poisonous spines.
When one of my daughters was 3 she stood on one while paddling in Crete, went unconcious in minutes, and, as it was Siesta time in a small village, I had a nightmare trying to find a doctor and a vehicle to get to him. Praise Be to Science for anti-histamines!
I won't ever forget what Weavers look like.
Posted by: Yubal
|
September 11, 2009 8:04 PM
Uh?! That's a freaking cool bug.
Any idea how it might breed?
Anybody an idea how this bug knows he/she(?) can pull this tongue eating stunt?
Posted by: Calladus | September 11, 2009 8:04 PM
Awww, It's just a cousin to Armadillidiidae, See? Just like a doodlebug! We used to play with Roly-Poly (Pillbugs) as kids.
It's a Crustacea, just like a Lobster!
Maybe he'll go good with butter?
Posted by: AndrewB | September 11, 2009 8:12 PM
Imagine if all the giant isopod feed the same way.
Posted by: kiki | September 11, 2009 8:12 PM
Apple are currently working on the new iSoPod, with earphones that eat and then substitute themselves for your tympanic membranes.
Posted by: James F | September 11, 2009 8:14 PM
Quaid...start the reactor....
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 8:15 PM
Maybe he'll go good with butter?
Hmmm, perhaps. Eating whole prawns, it's head-first, down the hatch. Took a bit of getting used to, but very tasty.
Posted by: Susan | September 11, 2009 8:25 PM
Why don't the fish just chew them up and swallow them? Fish eat ickier things (worms).
Posted by: Monado, FCD | September 11, 2009 8:27 PM
Human hard palate, too. I found a picture, from a different angle, of an isopod in a blue fish without the teeth and another isopod in red snapper at Talk Reason:
Posted by: JefFlyingV, Icy Blue | September 11, 2009 8:27 PM
Turns out there are a group of these that live off of the California coast and live the same way.
The only critter that is more disgusting is the Hagfish.
Posted by: David Wiener | September 11, 2009 8:28 PM
Reminds me of a republican in the house of representatives. Repulsive and annoying.
Posted by: Ernesto García | September 11, 2009 8:30 PM
I, for one, welcome our new isopod overlords.
Posted by: Ray M | September 11, 2009 8:33 PM
I love it... that same page has a photo of Maggie Thatcher on it. How apt!
Posted by: alopiasmag
|
September 11, 2009 8:35 PM
It kinda looks like "Alien".... awesome!
Posted by: BTCreel | September 11, 2009 8:36 PM
These ugly little dudes showed up on BoingBoing back in 2005.
A Post,
Another Post.
Nasty enough that I remembered it four years later.
Posted by: t | September 11, 2009 8:39 PM
I love the BBC headline: "Rare tongue-eating parasite found". No immediate mention that it isn't a human parasite. I wonder how many people have seen the headline and thought, "OMFG! Can it be transmitted by kissing?"
Posted by: McH | September 11, 2009 8:41 PM
After a class on parasites during fisheries biology one really learns to appreciate chicken.
As the years have passed I`m still haunted by the memories of some of these revolting little marvels of nature, like the infamous Sphyrion lumpi.
Good for the fish that this tongue loving isopod isn’t of the same size as his deep sea brethren.
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 8:42 PM
Oh. My. God. This isn't real. I refuse to believe it. LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!
This is worse than the beastie that Khan put in Chekov's ear. Oh, sweet fuck, let it not be real.
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 8:45 PM
Oh. My. God. This isn't real. I refuse to believe it. LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!
Does this mean you don't want to know about nasal leeches?
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 8:46 PM
"It's a pet."
"Not quite...domesticated."
Posted by: blueelm | September 11, 2009 8:47 PM
woah... just... whoah
Posted by: Carlie | September 11, 2009 8:48 PM
HOLY FREAKING CRAP McH.
That's almost worse than coconut crabs.
Posted by: Creature of the Universe | September 11, 2009 8:51 PM
looks like something I found in my pasta this evening except whatever it was had bigger eyes.
nature....everything eats each other...or everything else
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 8:51 PM
@Josh (not me, the other one)
I'll chase you around the moons of Nibia, and around the Antares Maelstrom, and around Perdition's flames if you ever say that again.
@kamake
You're so not getting a toaster or a sandwich press.
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 8:52 PM
Holy shit!
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 8:54 PM
That's almost worse than coconut crabs.
Haha, nice link, Carlie.
But do they taste good?
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 8:56 PM
Oh, that ain't the worst of it, pal. Have a gander at the link in #57. They're full-on trilobites . Shiver.
Posted by: PlaydoPlato | September 11, 2009 8:56 PM
#54:
"I say we lift off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Posted by: raven | September 11, 2009 8:58 PM
Oh c'mon. A fine example of Intelligent Design. Created because, you know, jesus loves us.
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 8:58 PM
@the other Josh (which is not me, but is, in fact, the other one)
"There is the Mutara Neblua..."
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:00 PM
He tasks me. He tasks me!
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 9:01 PM
No shit. And here I've been, all lamenting the loss of such crazy critters. Those things are awesome.
Posted by: John Marley | September 11, 2009 9:02 PM
It's Irreducibly Grotesque! (8th organism down the list)
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 9:03 PM
He tasks me and I shall have him!
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:04 PM
I've got some sympathy to that point of view - I was just thinking about trilobites the other day, and how cool they are. Then I realized they're just overgrown roly-poly bugs, at a size sufficient to menace me, and I got squicked out. Very ambivalent. Like when I eat lobster. . . it's so . . .mmmmmmmmmmm. . but you're basically eating a sea-borne roach in butter.
Posted by: Chris Caprette | September 11, 2009 9:05 PM
Whoa! That is sooooooooooooooo cool! In a OMFG!!!!!!! My EFFIN tongue!
Posted by: PlaydoPlato | September 11, 2009 9:06 PM
JoshS:
JOOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Hey, somebody had to say it.
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:08 PM
Touche! I could go all night with you trading Trek quotes (and what fun it would be), but I'm afraid the Pharyngulite
whoreshorde is probly 'bout to kill us. So, kindly standby to receive my transmission, and we can end this.Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 9:08 PM
You're so not getting a toaster or a sandwich press.
Fine, if that's the way you're gonna be...
http://www.ispub.com/journal/the_internet_journal_of_otorhinolaryngology/volume_9_number_2_11/article_printable/experiences_of_single_technique_in_removing_nasal_leech_infestation_an_analysis_of_25_cases.html
Posted by: Polyester Mather DD | September 11, 2009 9:11 PM
Egad- it's the veritable Sand Crab of my summer childhood , well -known to castle constructors aged 5 to 9 as being the dominant tide line isopod six inches undersand anyplace from Sandy Hook to Tom's River.
Much less fearsome to humans, whose feet it tickles, than the fearsome Blue Crab which hurts like hell.
Is this new and hitherto unsuspected predatory behavior due to mutation or feeding on discarded Alien DVD's?
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:12 PM
Oooooh. You are so. Fired. (glowering). Oh baby, that's disgustin'!
Ah, yes, somebody did have to say it! Phew. . I need a cigarette now.
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 9:15 PM
Damn you! That was gonna be my next one! Great minds and all of that.
Yep...somehow, no matter what it is, it's just not as icky if it lives at the bottom of the sea.*
'tis probably true. Sadly. Let us shoulder our arms and glare menacingly at all of the bystanders**.
*The first one of you that brings up SpongeBob dies.
**Or we can make stupidass faces at them. Either way...
Posted by: AwesomeRobot | September 11, 2009 9:15 PM
That clinches it. If this is allowed to exist, there either is no god, or Lovecraft was right!
Posted by: recovering catholic | September 11, 2009 9:16 PM
Carlie--
Actually, Carl Zimmer features this tongue-eating isopod in his magnificently disturbing book Parasite Rex. It's a bizarre mutualistic relationship, because after eating the fish's tongue, the isopod stays on to function as the fish's tongue.
Posted by: alopiasmag
|
September 11, 2009 9:16 PM
More proof that if there is a god (which of course there is not but in that small 1 in 10ˆ1000th chance he exists...) IT, must've had one helluva sick sense of humour, hahahahaha!
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:18 PM
@Josh (totally not me), #82 -
I vote for stupidass faces, totally. Trade you a Ted Haggard mask for a Ronald Reagan?
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 9:19 PM
I don't have a Reagan. I've a Mark Sanford. Will that work?
Posted by: EvilBastard | September 11, 2009 9:21 PM
Am I the only one that thinks these could be very useful if only we could train them to go after certain creotards?
Even better than Kahn's ear worms.
Posted by: llewelly | September 11, 2009 9:21 PM
Definite proof of a loving god. How could anyone gaze on such beauty and remain an atheist?
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:21 PM
Deal. Though I was hoping for a Larry Craig. Wide stance and all.
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 9:21 PM
Oh baby, that's disgustin'!
The part about sticking the face in a pan of water...the leech protrudes from the nose to lay eggs in the water...
OK, I admit it, this is way nasty gross to me, too...
Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 9:25 PM
Ha!
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 9:28 PM
Definite proof of a loving god. How could anyone gaze on such beauty and remain an atheist?
The creepy parasitic thing looks like it's smiling, just like clergy.
Posted by: JoshS, Official SpokesGay | September 11, 2009 9:28 PM
You want gross? I got gross. Tapeworms. Eat it bitch. . lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDWFXWiIq0Y
Posted by: John Morales | September 11, 2009 9:32 PM
Bah.
All this Joshing is naught but displacement behaviour.
We should embrace the horror, lest it embrace us!
</Sphinx-mode>
Posted by: Wowbagger, OM | September 11, 2009 9:34 PM
Well, it's the perfect analogy for the church throughout history - it'll feed off you and take your voice away. The only difference is the isopod doesn't lie about why it's doing it.
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 9:42 PM
"Doctors recommend against eating tapeworms".
Voluntarily ingesting a nasty parasite? WTF?
OK, I give. You win the gross-out contest. Today.
Only because I have to go to bed.
Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | September 11, 2009 9:48 PM
I have but one question concerning the isopod:
Is it edible?
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 9:53 PM
Is it edible?
Hell yeah.
Tasty? Ummm, you go first...
Posted by: Standard curve
|
September 11, 2009 9:57 PM
So if this thing can completely replace a fishes tongue... how does it taste?
Terrible.
Posted by: strange gods before me | September 11, 2009 10:02 PM
Flashback.
The isopod shits down the fish's neck.
Posted by: Carlie | September 11, 2009 10:06 PM
recovering catholic@#84 - That's where I first read about these little beasties. :)
Voluntarily ingesting a nasty parasite? WTF?
That's what diet pills used to be made out of, don'tcha know.
Josh&Josh, time for my favorite lolcaption.
Posted by: Doug Little | September 11, 2009 10:10 PM
If your hungry enough!?Posted by: Josh
|
September 11, 2009 10:10 PM
Nice. They look like the trilobite models that they have in that Burgess Shale diorama in the NMNH.
Posted by: Spooky | September 11, 2009 10:11 PM
surely that's the larval form of the Cloverfield monster?! o.O
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 10:17 PM
That's what diet pills used to be made out of, don'tcha know.
Yah, Carlie, I get it, more or less. I'll be looking into the marketing of nasty parasites as "diet pills".
Perhaps nasal leeches can be marketed as "allergy relief".
Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | September 11, 2009 10:27 PM
Well, if it's going to act as the fish's tongue, I may as well eat it too along with the fish!
Posted by: Doug Little | September 11, 2009 10:29 PM
Probably go well steamed with a lemon sabayon, Don't want to dry the little guy out.
Posted by: Doug Little | September 11, 2009 10:32 PM
Pair it with a nice crisp pils or perhaps an abbey blond and you have a meal.
Posted by: Doug Little | September 11, 2009 10:36 PM
I wondering wether your gonna need to get the pinking shears out to get through the carapace.
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 10:43 PM
GHP @ 107
I may as well eat it too along with the fish!
DL @ 107
get the pinking shears out to get through the carapace.
Yah, my thought, too.
It looks crunchy.
Posted by: kamaka | September 11, 2009 10:46 PM
Oops, DL @ 110
Posted by: Troy Britain | September 11, 2009 10:49 PM
There is a funny story regarding those human-like fish teeth and creationists.
Some of you may have heard of "Paluxy Man" who is usually manifested in the form of "man-tracks" found in and around the Paluxy river in Texas.
Well "Paluxy Man" has also been claimed by creationists to exist on the basis of certain fossil teeth.
See A Tale of Two Teeth by Ron Hastings for the full story (with pictures).
Posted by: YetAnotherKevin | September 11, 2009 10:52 PM
@25 Fuck me, now I _will_ have nightmares.
Posted by: Montanto | September 11, 2009 10:58 PM
Wow...
Reminds me of what my behavior ecologist father used to say about Tachinid Flies, spec. "Their so gross they're neat."
Posted by: Paula Helm Murray | September 11, 2009 11:02 PM
I think they're cool. I notice they are only in fish that have an outer edge of teeth, I don't think they'd last too long in something like a pike or a barracuda--which have palate teeth as well as the usual outer rim.
They're probably good eating, but I think I'd draw the line if one scuttled out of the mouth of a fish I was grilling.
Posted by: YetAnotherKevin | September 11, 2009 11:02 PM
Oh, and why do they call them ISOpods? They have like 20 feet.
Posted by: DreamDevil | September 11, 2009 11:05 PM
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Eric Saveau | September 11, 2009 11:07 PM
The energizer's bypassed like a Christmas tree, so don't give me too many bumps.
Posted by: Religion™ Brand Brain Staples | September 11, 2009 11:35 PM
Now all that has to happen is for there to be some selective pressure on the fish that /have/ parasites tongues and we'll be well on our way to seeing yet another weird symbiotic relationship in nature.
Disturbing yet intriguing.
Posted by: Edgar | September 11, 2009 11:49 PM
In a recent trip to an Amazon tributary river a friend found one of these on an Ancistrus pleco´s mouth, i didn´t knew that tongue-stealing critters also lives on FRESH WATER.......
Posted by: MK | September 11, 2009 11:50 PM
Fish have tongue?
Posted by: scott | September 11, 2009 11:52 PM
So this is supposed to be considered a rare creature? Maybe I should start making a living out of catching live specimens.
These creatures are in the mouth of every trevally in Victorian(A state in Australia for those who don't know).
I have literally caught 56 trevally in one trip and each one had a creature inside their mouth. Perhaps it's strange for them to be elsewhere in the world but over here they are considered quite normal by anybody who spends time fishing.
Posted by: JD | September 12, 2009 12:05 AM
Well humans really are just highly modified Sarcopterygian fish so...
bigmouth buffalo fish (Ictiobus) (Dembski's cousin)
bigmouth buffalo fish (Ictiobus)
and the Sheephead's (Joe Wilson)
Posted by: Monado | September 12, 2009 12:07 AM
One of the brief articles that I found said that the parasite actually grips the tongue so hard that the heart is starved for oxygenated blood and degenerates, and that the parasite eats fish mucus, bits of skin, etc. and not fish scraps from feeding. It also mentions 400 species.
Posted by: Chris P | September 12, 2009 12:09 AM
Noah didn't mention these animals in his ship's logbook? Why would he let this behavior go on and not stop it before it got out of hand.
If the two fish on the ark had isopods - why don't all fish.
Posted by: Tassie Devil | September 12, 2009 12:13 AM
Talking of seafood supper:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/12/hugh-fearnley-whittingstall-cuttlefish-recipes
...with deepest apologies to Cuttle...
Posted by: oaksterdam | September 12, 2009 12:18 AM
"Look, this is an emotional moment for all of us, okay? I know that. But, let's not make snap judgments, please. This is clearly-clearly an important species we're dealing with and I don't think that you or I, or anybody, has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them. "
Posted by: Kristen Potter | September 12, 2009 12:25 AM
I think that tongue-eater is evilishly cute. :P
Posted by: LeeLeeOne | September 12, 2009 12:32 AM
Teeth? Human-like teeth! really?! I call poe photoshop.
Posted by: Hypatia's Daughter | September 12, 2009 12:53 AM
#49 Monado, FCD
#62 Carlie 2 wins in one thread!The article on the Talk Reason website lists a grotesque menagerie of parasites, whose complex and blood-thirsty life cycles are proof of ID (it is a satire); and concludes with:
So, is this the grossest thread ever, or has PZ done worse? (maybe I shouldn't ask........)
Posted by: Matt | September 12, 2009 1:10 AM
That gives me an amazing idea for a movie ...
Posted by: Margaret | September 12, 2009 1:11 AM
And what god made this? Another bad experimental result in his phase 1 was it...or is it just a baby Loch Ness Monster mentioned in the pretend-science school books?
Posted by: JD | September 12, 2009 1:12 AM
Nope. You're wrong. Like most animals, the shape and form of teeth are related, in part, to diet. See also the Pacu as shown on National Geographic web site. Not unlike great apes, Pacu's feed on nuts and fruits and they have evolved similar dentition to do the job.
Posted by: JohnnieCanuck
|
September 12, 2009 1:22 AM
I really want to hear the Creationist explanation for why Noah took two of every parasite on board, including human parasites.
Noah and his family were the only people on the planet righteous enough to be saved from the flood and for this, they get to be hosts on the boat to every 'kind' of human infestation going. Not nice, not nice at all.
Hostess with the mostest takes on a whole new meaning here.
Still, I'm thinking, under the circumstances, Noah and the others probably didn't kick up too much fuss about the squicky unfairness of it all. It was very much a 'my way or no way at all' situation.
Then there's the part where some of the diseases and parasites that made landfall at Mt. Ararat were selective and only travelled to some parts of the post flood world with Noah's descendants.
Really there's no logical explanation... Therefore God.
Posted by: Krystalline Apostate | September 12, 2009 1:24 AM
Jersey, huh? Figures (he said, isopod firmly in cheek).Posted by: Ragutis | September 12, 2009 1:49 AM
Did you miss the one about the 4 foot long Bristle Worm? :p
Posted by: JD | September 12, 2009 1:56 AM
Christian Isopod Coalition...unite!!!
Posted by: DaveG | September 12, 2009 2:17 AM
Rent The Believers and wait for the centipedes! Ewww! Bonus: electrocution and Jimmy Smits guts himself.
Posted by: Interrobang | September 12, 2009 2:23 AM
I want to nominate DreamDevil for a Molly for the outstanding job done in summing up so many of our feelings in a single syllable, let alone a single word.
That is, if you consider "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!" to be one syllable, of course.
Posted by: deadman_932 | September 12, 2009 2:27 AM
I don't care about eating it, but if someone can hold the tail, I wish to have sex with it.
Posted by: Jafafa Hots | September 12, 2009 3:07 AM
"Rent The Believers and wait for the centipedes! Ewww! Bonus: electrocution and Jimmy Smits guts himself."
That damned movie gave me an electricity phobia. I'm serious.
Posted by: Fred The Hun | September 12, 2009 3:29 AM
Carlie @ 62,
Just thought you might like to know this little bit of potentially useful information courtesy of Wikipedia:
Posted by: Laura | September 12, 2009 3:32 AM
Do you think the isopod is species-specific for its host? If not, this could be the answer for Ann Coulter...
Posted by: Troy | September 12, 2009 3:47 AM
Excuse me, but why does that fish have teeth EXACTLY like human?
Posted by: Kevin | September 12, 2009 4:27 AM
Because of this particular isopod being, as the Wiki page for it describes, the "only known instance of a parasite functionally replacing a host structure", I am far more fascinated than creeped out.
Posted by: natural cynic | September 12, 2009 4:28 AM
Laura:
I hat to be saying this, but little Annie appears to be more sane that some of the other critters that have recently crawled out of the woodwork.
Posted by: MadScientist | September 12, 2009 4:33 AM
A natural source of inspiration for the invention of the matrioska dolls! It must have been designed by a benevolent sky fairy.
Posted by: D | September 12, 2009 4:55 AM
Yeah, Ann Coulter is evil, but she's an old and familiar evil, which means she's a wrinkly old bag who we can brutalize at our pleasure because she presents no real threat to us.
OK, in all due seriousness, the legitimacy with which the "hick/tard" demographic seems to treat these demagogues and simpletons has done nothing but increasingly astound me of late. Look... I try to inure myself to real-world complications with a hearty dose of cynicism, but am I just not keeping up with the advance of stupidity?
Posted by: windy | September 12, 2009 5:01 AM
2wins1thread
there, grossified that for you.
Posted by: Peter Ashby | September 12, 2009 5:13 AM
I caught a large isopod once with a rod and line. It was at least 4 inches long and wasn't hooked at all, it just did not wish to let go of my bait even after I hauled it out of the water. This was in the Manukau Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand (off the tip of the Cornwallis peninsula to be precise). A lot of isopods are detritivores and this one was just cleaning up some dead fish flesh. I threw it back even though it was the only thing I caught that day.
Posted by: Harry Bosch | September 12, 2009 5:20 AM
KILL IT WITH FIRE!!
(If it hasn't been said already)
Posted by: Korinthian | September 12, 2009 5:33 AM
Dare I ask how it mates?
Posted by: davrosfromskaro
|
September 12, 2009 5:55 AM
I just showed this to my children.
"ewwwww!" was their response as well.
Does this make me a bad parent? :-)
Posted by: Yngve Sjølset | September 12, 2009 5:55 AM
Don't say it, it's on the tip of my symb, eh, tongue...
Oral sex, right?
Posted by: DebinOz | September 12, 2009 6:22 AM
I love nature and all its components - but that thing has a smirk on its face!
Yuk.
Posted by: DebinOz | September 12, 2009 6:28 AM
"I really want to hear the Creationist explanation for why Noah took two of every parasite on board, including human parasites."
Please keep up with creotard-of-the-day explanations:
God was in no way involved with these beasties. It was satan himself who created disease and all those nasty critters.
Posted by: Marc Abian | September 12, 2009 6:57 AM
I already knew about these thanks to cracked.com
Posted by: CSBSH | September 12, 2009 7:28 AM
I don't know if I want to live anymore. The other day I saw a surinam toad for the first time, and now this. It's almost too much to bear.
Posted by: Carlie | September 12, 2009 7:36 AM
In this entire thread, I have to say the grossest thing for me are JD's fish-with-teeth pictures. I can't cope with that.
Second prize goes to windy. Ew ew ew ew ew.
Posted by: Josh
|
September 12, 2009 7:38 AM
Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young.
Posted by: Sara | September 12, 2009 8:15 AM
OMD SO CUUUUTE
Posted by: aratina cage
|
September 12, 2009 8:36 AM
Bat-eating tits, tongue-eating isopods, that's nothing. Make way for human-eating eagles from Smoggyland: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060905-eagle-human.html
Posted by: N.Wells | September 12, 2009 8:41 AM
#153 asked "Dare I ask how it mates" - obviously, lots of French kissing.
The advantage of having one of these things is that you can then just drink spicy ketchup and it's like shrimp cocktail 24/7.
Posted by: Knockgoats | September 12, 2009 8:52 AM
Hmm. Now where are all the creotards explaining how the marvellous adaptation of this isopod to its way of life is proof of an intelligent designer? Hello? Roseanne, help ma boab, Sean Pitman M.D.? Hello? Hello?
Posted by: Syllogod
|
September 12, 2009 9:52 AM
I grew up fishing on the south side of Lake Pontchartrain, just north of New Orleans. My twin brother and I would catch mullet in cast nets for bait. We found parasites similar to these in the mouth of nearly every mullet we caught. This can't be that unusual, can it?
Posted by: dogemperor | September 12, 2009 11:33 AM
Isopods IMHO are kind of cute, and so are coconut crabs (warning: my sense of "cute" tends to be broken).
Tongue-eating isopods are mildly creepy but fascinating (and I do have to agree with GWP's commentary on whether they're edible--and whether drawn butter or a mudbug-boil is a more appropriate method of preparation).
No, the things I truly have an OMFG GETITAWAYGETITAWAY AIEEEEEEEEEEE horror of are certain blowflies--specifically the North American screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax).
Yes, there's a reason for that hominivorax name in its nomenclature--their maggots are one of the few that happily NOMNOMNOM on *healthy* human tissue, were known to be a considerable animal and human health threat (especially baby calves--screwworm flies have a tendency to go after any open wound, including umbilical cords) and in fact earned its charming name after being discovered in a terminal screwworm infestation of a prisoner's nose (where upwards of 400 maggots were removed and the unfortunate fellow still died). And worse yet, as they NOMNOMNOM on living tissue, they draw more of their screwworm brethren and sistren to lay eggs. Which makes more screwworms.
Pleasant dreams, kids. :P
Reading about screwworm infestations of dogs when I was a kid (I tended to read veterinary and medical encyclopedias for entertainment and still do) caused such a horror of anything resembling a screwworm maggot that I can't look at ANYTHING involvimg maggots without emitting noises that would be uttered by, well, a buxom lady who was about to be knifed by Norman Bates in the shower. :P Even if the brain knows that it might be fruit fly larvae, my reptile brain goes "OH GOD MAGGOT OH *HELL* NO" and I descend into near-pants-wetting terror. (No, seriously, this is to the point I literally broke out into a Southern Gospel Hallelujah Chorus when a study was recently announced that maggot therapy is no more effective than standard debridement. I'd literally rather them take the leg than put SQUIRMING HELL on me. I don't care that medical botflies just eat the dead tissue. Just. NO.)
The North American Screwworm in fact is proof to me that there *is* no kind Creator out there; if there is a Creator, he is either negligent or an outright *bastard* for allowing such a horror to come into existence.
(Of note, the North American Screwworm is fortunately no longer extant in the US, thanks in large part to eradication campaigns that were later the model for Medfly control (mass releases of irradiated pupae of male screwworms). And trust me when I say THANK SCIENCE for this. The people responsible for discovering that you can sterilise screwworms by exposing them to some nice ionising radiation and release them, thus removing the Screwworm Plague from an area, deserve beer. And a Nobel Prize. And a few statues.)
Posted by: DaveG | September 12, 2009 11:42 AM
I will rule the world!
http://www.kidstube.com/play.php?vid=6082
Posted by: Hank Roberts | September 12, 2009 12:04 PM
Ah, it's a good clear picture of a lobbyist in position to dictate what a congressman says.
Big deal. We knew that.
Posted by: Hank Roberts | September 12, 2009 12:15 PM
Tangentially, for anyone who's missed Tiptree's "Screwfly Solution" -- worth reading and pondering.
http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11072/3050/Stories/Two_by_Tiptree.pdf
Posted by: Carlie | September 12, 2009 12:36 PM
dogemperor, you wouldn't have wanted to be at my house last week. Apparently my children dumped a yogurt and a pudding cup into the recycling without emptying them fully and rinsing first, and when I went to empty it a few days later I found a huge slick of gloop at the bottom of the recycling bin. Then I realized the gloop was undulating. Arrrrrrgh.
Posted by: strange gods before me | September 12, 2009 12:47 PM
Posted by: JohnM | September 12, 2009 12:52 PM
#97 et seq.
The only experience of trying to eat an isopod I have had was a couple of weeks back when a friend was sold half-a-dozen in a local market in Carcassonne as ingredients for paella. I wrestled with this 2.5 inch critter for a least 5 minutes before admitting there was nothing, but nothing, I could detach from its carcase that my teeth would be able to deal with.
Another diner had the same experience - no one else at the table would touch them.
Posted by: Muzz | September 12, 2009 1:21 PM
This kind of thing does make me rather glad to be part of a species that can scratch itself. Although that just makes our parasites smaller and more insidious.
Whenever I see these sorts of things I do picture Far Side-esque scenes of animals in conversation.
"Hey Bob. How's the condition?"
"Wew ichs awmost wepwached de howel fing nowe"
"Yeesh. How's that work with food?"
"Iwt dusunt huwt anymaw. But actuwee evefing pwetty mux tawests wike ixopod nowe."
Posted by: Hypatia's Daughter | September 12, 2009 2:25 PM
#157 DebinOz
Major theological NoNo. Only God can create. He did it only in those 6 days.That is why Satan subverts and deceives. He cannot create so must "steal" from God. Tho' Satan may be able to turn a created entity into an evil one - like a good bacteria into a disease. I suppose that is how Ham & his ilk explain disease & parasites. But I am not sure if he attributes the change to God or Satan.
I tried to read a book on human parasites last year. I could not get past the first chapter. The pictures made me faint. Not to mention we host bacteria in our gut (that aid digestion); and mites on our eyelashes. TMI.
Posted by: Sili
|
September 12, 2009 2:50 PM
Not anymore it doesn't! No ...Posted by: Stygian Lamprey | September 12, 2009 3:08 PM
im in ur mouth
eatin ur tung
omnomnomnomnom
Posted by: Lilith | September 12, 2009 3:35 PM
If it wasn't in the fish's mouth, it would be kind of a cute organism. But as a replcement tongue, it's just creepy.
Posted by: aunt benjy | September 12, 2009 4:34 PM
I don't say this very often, but here goes.
Ugh...gross...
Posted by: Noam GR | September 12, 2009 4:57 PM
awww, am I the only one who finds him kinda cute? He's all hiding in there pretending to be a tongue.
I didn't know fish had tongues either!
---
http://noamgr.wordpress.com
Posted by: McH | September 12, 2009 6:02 PM
Coconut crabs are more or less nothing but fat hermit crabs without a shell. They will still try to hide their soft parts if they can find a can or unused WWII helmet suiting their size. Supposed to taste really good, they have been severely reduced in numbers on many Pacific islands (also being related to snow crabs this is easy to understand).
They have still are doing well on Island evangelised by 7th day adventists, because eating crabs is considered an abomination. On of the few examples of positive consequences of religious superstition.
Posted by: leaford | September 12, 2009 6:31 PM
What if they infected humans?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9KlpvAfko
Posted by: Laurel | September 12, 2009 7:04 PM
holy FSM, I live in Jersey. Guess I won't be swimming any more, or sleeping any time soon either.
Posted by: DaveG | September 12, 2009 10:22 PM
Sea Pigs!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotoplanes
P.S. Anyone wanna teach me to put links into text?
Posted by: John Morales | September 12, 2009 10:33 PM
DaveG, thus:
<a href="URL">text caption</a>
where URL is the link, and the text caption is what is seen.
Posted by: Somnolent Aphid | September 12, 2009 11:11 PM
It's the answer to the question, "Cat got your tongue?"
Posted by: Monado, FCD | September 13, 2009 3:04 AM
Hmmm, reminds me of Stephen Jay Gould's stories of the tiny parasites that live on a thrips' egg. A thrips is an insect about 3 mm long. And, like everything else in nature, it has parasites. It has parasites that feed on their eggs, which are, naturally enough, pretty darn small. So the parasites have to conserve resources. Gould points out that the theory of evolution predicts that the sex ratio among such parasites would include a minimum number of males, so that there can be more females to lay eggs. Normally, this tendency is kept in check, because the selective advantage of being born one sex or the other operates only when your sex is in the minority (Fisher's theory of sex ratio). However, the selection pressure of sex ratios disappears when your mates are siblings, since you are now all spreading the same genes. One genus of flies produces only a single male in each brood. That male mates with his sisters before birth, then is born only to die. In fact, the brood hatches, feeds on the mother's body until she is only a hollow shell, then mate and chew their way out of the mother's body. Isn't God wonderful?
Posted by: Drhoz! | September 13, 2009 3:44 AM
"Oh, and why do they call them ISOpods? They have like 20 feet."
because the legs are all, for the most part, highly similar. No specialised swimming legs, giant claws, etc.
Posted by: DaveG | September 13, 2009 3:53 AM
John,
Muchas gracias. A recursive test:
Posted by: BobbyEarle | September 13, 2009 8:10 AM
strange gods before me @172...
Well said.
Posted by: Monado, FCD | September 13, 2009 10:53 AM
Hypatia's Daughter [#131], I was hoping that readers would notice all the other wonderful examples of grossitude on Talk Reason.
Posted by: esa | September 13, 2009 2:28 PM
Posted by: Josh Author Profile Page | September 11, 2009 7:17 PM
God has delivered such a wonderful diversity of life to this Earth.
Oh wow, I missed the intelligent design horses*it. thanks to remind it to us.
Posted by: neverwinterblack | September 13, 2009 4:20 PM
So, how many of you have ever seen a fish before? I'm not sure what this little guy is doing, but fish don't have tongues. There are one or two species in the world that do have tongue-like appendages, but fish have no reason to for tongues. Wake up robots!
Posted by: Gyeong Hwa Pak | September 13, 2009 4:42 PM
#193
O RLY?
Then why do we have recipes to cook fish tongue. And yes I have seen a real fish. And these parasite do eat their tongue.
*eyeroll
Posted by: Ichthyic | September 13, 2009 4:42 PM
So, how many of you have ever seen a fish before?
*raises hand*
Ichthyologist in da hizzy.
but fish don't have tongues.
uh, wut? In case you were actually trying to be serious...
yes, they do.
In fact, most fish have a very good reason for having tongues:
they have teeth on them.
Posted by: aratina cage
|
September 13, 2009 4:51 PM
@Monado, FCD
Oh, we did. *groan* I tried not to look as I scrolled down to the relevant photos.@neverwinterblack
As for fish not having tongues... WTF?
Posted by: Jack Mitcham | September 13, 2009 8:58 PM
That thing looks like a Slitheen from Doctor Who.
Posted by: Narcisse | September 14, 2009 2:36 AM
That fish must have told the illest lie ever to all his friends. There was something fishy about his story.
Posted by: Alcyon | September 14, 2009 5:04 AM
Maybe a new idea for Steve Jobbs: put a USB-slot on it and name it the 'iSopod'. Just like an iPod, but you place it on your tongue so you'll always remember where you've left it...
Posted by: Noether | September 14, 2009 9:57 AM
Ugly? But it's so cute! Look at it smiling and rubbing its hands . . . claws . . . whatever together!
Posted by: Chris Lamb | September 14, 2009 10:01 AM
Just the way God designed it
/s
Posted by: SplendidMonkey
|
September 14, 2009 10:11 AM
Imagine a creature like that but instead of a parasite it's a symbiant. It controls your diet by restricting what you eat, actually consuming your food for you and by it's waste providing you with perfect nutrition. Your lifespan is doubled. On top of that, you are have a polyphonic singing voice and the ability to tie your shoes with no hands.
Posted by: Hypatia's Daughter | September 14, 2009 1:35 PM
#193 neverwinterblack
Well, lor' thunderin' jesus, boy. Don't you know that the Newfies consider cod tongues & cheeks to be delicacies? Fry 'em up in magotty butter and it's the food o' the gods!
A recipe for fried cod tongues.
Pictures of fried cod tongues.
Video of boning & tongueing a cod (tongueing at about 3:57).
And doncha just love the accent? That's why I loved Fargo so much. Reminded me of the Maritimes (tho' I am of PEI stock, myself).
Posted by: Vlad | September 14, 2009 1:53 PM
This begs for a new Jesus fish logo with a cute Darwin isopod in it's mouth :))
Posted by: Arachobia
|
September 15, 2009 4:44 AM
Reminds me of the time my mom was preparing squid for calamari and there was a semi-digested crab inside the squid. Its like paying a quarter of the price for a seafood dish
Posted by: skeptical scientist
|
December 8, 2009 10:51 PM
I just saw this thing again on the Colbert Report. He called it the craziest fucking thing he's ever heard. He's not wrong...