Isopod Inside of Living Fish (picture)

[pontius]

Originally Posted by ophiura
A little light reading for a Saturday afternoon...
Cymothoa exigua
that's a good read. so in other reads, it would not be to the parasite's best interest to actually kill the fish because then it would not be able to find it's on food because it's lost it's host. so it's sort of like a symbiotic relationship after it's killed the fish's tongue. so is the parasite fullsize when it goes into the fish, or does it have to wait and grow to the size of the fish's tongue.

 

[ophiura]

Fish like the sheepshead, Archosargus probatocephalus, are similar to this. Here is a school project I once did:

 

[pontius]

what was the project, finding the fish with the biggest buckteeth?

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Pontius
what was the project, finding the fish with the biggest buckteeth?

 

[ophiura]

LOL, no...I had to buy a fish, get and put together the skull and skeleton, then label and memorize it all.

Just happens that this sort of fish has a good robust skeleton (and teeth). Man there are some memories of bad smells.