There Is An Underwater Parasite That Replaces Itself As The Tongue Of A Fish

As if you thought your day couldn’t get any worse, you now know that there is a parasite that destroys tongues to become the “new” tongue of a fish.

A closer look:

It’s called cymothoa exigua, or tongue-eating louse. It enters the gill of a fish, attaches itself to the fish’s tongue and it destroys it. The parasite’s claws essentially causes the tongue to atrophy — but the fish can still use the parasite like a normal tongue.