naisho
Forum Disorders M.D.,Ph.D
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2006
- Messages
- 6,432
- Reaction score
- 12
I have been doing some conductive research on mother nature's parasites and happened to come across this stub while reading around, perhaps you may find this interesting, I felt compelled to share it with you.
"Welcome me to alldeaf! My name is cymothoa exigua and I'm from your ocean! I'm happy to be here!! and I have some questions about deafness."
Four years ago near the shores of the UK coast a Brit fish guy was doing his routine chores at the distribution office. The red snapper he was about to work on, which would've eventually ended up in a grocery store, was discovered with something odd. When he opened the fish's mouth he happened to notice a hue of white within the red. And it was pulsating.
Okay, dropping this storytelling crap because I was never good at writing stories..
In the great big ocean, there are vast amounts of organisms still yet to be discovered. But we are "unearthing" more on a frequent basis.
Cymothoa Exigua is a species of "bugs" that are considered to be endoparasites: endo - latin meaning "within (inside)", + parasite. They resemble a giant roly-poly. What do they do for a living.. well, here goes:
The fish is swimming around, opening its mouth and closing like a dork. Opening and closing the gills. Then the little happy guy is floating around the reefs in the water gets excited as he sees a shadow getting closer to him. As the fish either eats or passes it by, it ultimately gets sucked into the respiratory system and stuck there; due to the size it is unable to enter down the throat subconsciously [to the fish].
Figure 1A-X rev. V: Depicts the anatomy of a cymothoa exigua.
As its "grappling hook" feet latches on to the internals of the fish, it slowly clambers its way up until it reaches the tip of the tounge. As it arrives at point zero, imagine Optimus Prime booming somewhere: "Autobots, transform!" and within orders it hooks onto the tounge like multiple seatbelts.
From then on it proceeds to grow bigger.. and bigger siphoning blood off the tounge. Until finally there is no more blood in that organ that it becomes literally a wasted body part, serving no use anymore. From then on the little bugger enjoys a host-parasite relationship with the fish, freeloading its way through what the fish eats, the roller coaster rides, and everything else the fish does that it can't alone.
The fish eventually gets used to the new "cyborg" tounge and can use it as if it were a normal tounge.
"Huzzuh!
Technically being specific; it doesn't eat the stuff the fish eats. It supposedly feeds on the fish's boogers, or blood if it still can.
Apparently it does not cause any harm or damage to the rest of the fish for the rest of its life.
The average size of one seems to be within an inch or two. However his cousin.. has a different way of 'ballin and CAN get pretty huge...
"My name's Isopod, don't be messing around with my homies or I'll come get you. In your nightmares too. muhaha"
Oh, don't worry. As far as we know, they only affect fish. For the time being you don't have to worry about swimming in the ocean and getting one. However.. things are always evolving
Note that this is just a scientific taxonomy name for the creature.. There is no standard name for it yet. Given what you know now, what would you call the race of these little guys if you had the chance to name it?
By the way, this is the only known parasite of all of them out there, that is known to replace an organ and can function as a part of the host.
Wanna see more in-depth?
Cymothoa exigua - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
» Blog Archive » Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Cymothoa exigua
"Welcome me to alldeaf! My name is cymothoa exigua and I'm from your ocean! I'm happy to be here!! and I have some questions about deafness."
Four years ago near the shores of the UK coast a Brit fish guy was doing his routine chores at the distribution office. The red snapper he was about to work on, which would've eventually ended up in a grocery store, was discovered with something odd. When he opened the fish's mouth he happened to notice a hue of white within the red. And it was pulsating.
Okay, dropping this storytelling crap because I was never good at writing stories..
In the great big ocean, there are vast amounts of organisms still yet to be discovered. But we are "unearthing" more on a frequent basis.
Cymothoa Exigua is a species of "bugs" that are considered to be endoparasites: endo - latin meaning "within (inside)", + parasite. They resemble a giant roly-poly. What do they do for a living.. well, here goes:
The fish is swimming around, opening its mouth and closing like a dork. Opening and closing the gills. Then the little happy guy is floating around the reefs in the water gets excited as he sees a shadow getting closer to him. As the fish either eats or passes it by, it ultimately gets sucked into the respiratory system and stuck there; due to the size it is unable to enter down the throat subconsciously [to the fish].
Figure 1A-X rev. V: Depicts the anatomy of a cymothoa exigua.
As its "grappling hook" feet latches on to the internals of the fish, it slowly clambers its way up until it reaches the tip of the tounge. As it arrives at point zero, imagine Optimus Prime booming somewhere: "Autobots, transform!" and within orders it hooks onto the tounge like multiple seatbelts.
From then on it proceeds to grow bigger.. and bigger siphoning blood off the tounge. Until finally there is no more blood in that organ that it becomes literally a wasted body part, serving no use anymore. From then on the little bugger enjoys a host-parasite relationship with the fish, freeloading its way through what the fish eats, the roller coaster rides, and everything else the fish does that it can't alone.
The fish eventually gets used to the new "cyborg" tounge and can use it as if it were a normal tounge.
"Huzzuh!
Technically being specific; it doesn't eat the stuff the fish eats. It supposedly feeds on the fish's boogers, or blood if it still can.
Apparently it does not cause any harm or damage to the rest of the fish for the rest of its life.
The average size of one seems to be within an inch or two. However his cousin.. has a different way of 'ballin and CAN get pretty huge...
"My name's Isopod, don't be messing around with my homies or I'll come get you. In your nightmares too. muhaha"
Oh, don't worry. As far as we know, they only affect fish. For the time being you don't have to worry about swimming in the ocean and getting one. However.. things are always evolving
Note that this is just a scientific taxonomy name for the creature.. There is no standard name for it yet. Given what you know now, what would you call the race of these little guys if you had the chance to name it?
By the way, this is the only known parasite of all of them out there, that is known to replace an organ and can function as a part of the host.
Wanna see more in-depth?
Cymothoa exigua - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
» Blog Archive » Endless Forms Most Beautiful - Cymothoa exigua
