(photo: “File:Amphiprion clarkii – Cymothoa exigua (28999213532).jpg” by Christian Gloor from Wakatobi Dive Resort, Indonesia)
"Nature reserves the right to inflict upon her children the most terrifying jests,” the playwright Thornton Wilder once wrote. And while he wasn’t pointing the finger at Cymothoa Exigua, specifically – this nightmarish crustacean wasn’t discovered until this century, and Wilder died in 1975 – the description certainly fits. If you’ve managed to get through life without hearing of this aquatic horror, then it might give you a clue to know it is more commonly called the tongue eating louse (we’ll call it a cymothoa exigua for short). Which sounds bad, but doesn’t capture the full horror of this creature’s life cycle.
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