Animals (not the album. the things in nature)

Cymothoa Exigua:

A small parasitic crustacean that enters through a fishes gillslits. It then latches onto the tongue and begins draining it of blood. Pretty soon, the tongue atrophies and drops off from bloodloss.

At this point, one of the most bizzare things in nature happens.

The louse roots it's muscles into the stump where the fishes tongue used to be, and then actually replaces the tongue. The fish then goes the rest of its life with this parasitic arthropod as a tongue, functioning completely normally and living a natural life.



This is one of my favourite animals, just because it is so purely bizarre. It's like something from Science Fiction.

Neurotarkus wrote: sbooth wrote: Cymothoa Exigua: A small parasitic crustacean that enters through a fishes gillslits. It then latches onto the tongue and begins draining it of blood. Pretty soon, the tongue atrophies and drops off from bloodloss. At this point, one of the most bizzare things in nature happens. The louse roots it's muscles into the stump where the fishes tongue used to be, and then actually replaces the tongue. The fish then goes the rest of its life with this parasitic arthropod as a tongue, functioning completely normally and living a natural life. This is one of my favourite animals, just because it is so purely bizarre. It's like something from Science Fiction. haha niiiice. There's this one fungus in the Amazon that gets breathed in by an ant, and then controls the ant's mind and makes it want to climb really high up a tree. The ant then stops and dies on a high branch, and a mushroom sprouts out of its head. Spores then shoot from its mouth and land on the forest floor, to be breathed in by more ants.

Neurotarkus wrote: sbooth wrote: Cymothoa Exigua: A small parasitic crustacean that enters through a fishes gillslits. It then latches onto the tongue and begins draining it of blood. Pretty soon, the tongue atrophies and drops off from bloodloss. At this point, one of the most bizzare things in nature happens. The louse roots it's muscles into the stump where the fishes tongue used to be, and then actually replaces the tongue. The fish then goes the rest of its life with this parasitic arthropod as a tongue, functioning completely normally and living a natural life. This is one of my favourite animals, just because it is so purely bizarre. It's like something from Science Fiction. haha niiiice. There's this one fungus in the Amazon that gets breathed in by an ant, and then controls the ant's mind and makes it want to climb really high up a tree. The ant then stops and dies on a high branch, and a mushroom sprouts out of its head. Spores then shoot from its mouth and land on the forest floor, to be breathed in by more ants.

The genus is cordyceps, and there are different kinds for different bugs.

Dogs are the best animal. The best breed?  None other than the Great Dane.  I have a brindle one.




Edited by moe_blunts - November 28 2009 at 18:11

moe_blunts wrote: Dogs are the best animal. The best breed?  None other than the Great Dane.  I have a brindle one.

I agree. Nothing's better than coming home to a dog that's happy to see you.

the lamprey: a creature not of this world.


Edited by Kestrel - December 05 2009 at 00:13