Okay everyone, think about your tongue. Maybe move it around a bit, check in with it, consider what it means to you. Now imagine that your tongue suddenly shriveled up and fell off and that in its place is a tongue-sized isopod aka rollie pollie aka pillbug. Just there, hanging out, forever. How are you feeling? Horrified? Disgusted? Hey, we get it. But at least you’ll never be alone again. Believe it or not, this is not some bad creative writing exercise. This is a very real parasite. In fact, it’s not just one but a whole group of them. Fortunately for us humans, these tongue-replacing isopods don’t target mammals but rather various fish species (unfortunately for the fish). And in this week’s episode, we’re getting up close and personal with these bizarre (and dare we say cute?) organ-replacing parasites. If you’re wondering why on earth you should care about a niche parasite like this one or why it might be a bad idea to get rid of all of earth’s parasites, then we warmly invite you to sit back, relax, and enjoy this parasite appreciation hour.
| History | Biology |
| Berger, Joel, and John Wehausen. “Consequences of a mammalian predator-prey disequilibrium in the Great Basin Desert.” Conservation Biology 5.2 (1991): 243-248. | Brusca, R.C. and Gilligan, M.R., 1983. Tongue replacement in a marine fish (Lutjanus guttatus) by a parasitic isopod (Crustacea: Isopoda). Copeia, 1983(3), pp.813-816. |
| Brusca, Richard C., and Matthew R. Gilligan. “Tongue replacement in a marine fish (Lutjanus guttatus) by a parasitic isopod (Crustacea: Isopoda).” Copeia 1983.3 (1983): 813-816. | Bunkley-Williams, L. and Williams, E.H., 1998. Isopods associated with fishes: a synopsis and corrections. The Journal of parasitology, 84(5), pp.893-896. |
| Brusca, Richard C. “A monograph on the Isopoda Cymothoidae (Crustacea) of the eastern Pacific.” Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 73.2 (1981): 117-199. | Smit, N.J., Bruce, N.L. and Hadfield, K.A., 2014. Global diversity of fish parasitic isopod crustaceans of the family Cymothoidae. International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife, 3(2), pp.188-197. |
| Buck, Julia C. “Indirect effects explain the role of parasites in ecosystems.” Trends in Parasitology 35.10 (2019): 835-847. | Ketmaier, V., Joyce, D.A., Horton, T. and Mariani, S., 2008. A molecular phylogenetic framework for the evolution of parasitic strategies in cymothoid isopods (Crustacea). Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, 46(1), pp.19-23. |
| Carlson, Colin J., et al. “Parasite biodiversity faces extinction and redistribution in a changing climate.” Science advances 3.9 (2017): e1602422. | Horton, T. and Okamura, B., 2001. Cymothoid isopod parasites in aquaculture: a review and case study of a Turkish sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and sea bream (Sparus auratus) farm. Diseases of aquatic organisms, 46(3), pp.181-188. |
| Carlson, Colin J., et al. “A global parasite conservation plan.” Biological Conservation 250 (2020): 108596. | Tavares-Dias, M. and Oliveira, M.S.B., 2024. Global distribution patterns and geographic range of Cymothoa Fabricius, 1793 (Isopoda: Cymothoidae) associated with host fish. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 96(1), p.e20230706. |
| Carlson, Colin J., et al. “What would it take to describe the global diversity of parasites?.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287.1939 (2020): 20201841. | Parker, D. and Booth, A.J., 2013. The tongue-replacing isopod Cymothoa borbonica reduces the growth of largespot pompano Trachinotus botla. Marine biology, 160, pp.2943-2950. |
| Cook, Joseph A., et al. “Transformational principles for NEON sampling of mammalian parasites and pathogens: a response to Springer and colleagues.” BioScience 66.11 (2016): 917-919. | Chávez-López, R., Rocha-Ramírez, A., Álvarez, F. and Wetzer, R., 2005. Elthusa alvaradoensis Rocha-Ramirez, Chavez-Lopez & Bruce, 2005 (Isopoda, Cymothoidae) parasitizing the inshore lizardfish, Synodus foetens (Linnaeus, 1766) on the continental shelf off central Veracruz, Mexico. Crustaceana, pp.865-872. |
| Dougherty, Eric R., et al. “Paradigms for parasite conservation.” Conservation biology 30.4 (2016): 724-733. | Bakenhaster, M.D., McBride, R.S. and Price, W.W., 2006. Life history of Glossobius hemiramphi (Isopoda: Cymothoidae): development, reproduction, and symbiosis with its host Hemiramphus brasiliensis (Pisces: Hemiramphidae). Journal of Crustacean Biology, 26(3), pp.283-294. |
| Gómez, Andrés, and Elizabeth Nichols. “Neglected wild life: parasitic biodiversity as a conservation target.” International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 2 (2013): 222-227. | Hadfield, K.A., Bruce, N.L. and Smit, N.J., 2013. Review of the fish-parasitic genus Cymothoa Fabricius, 1793 (Isopoda, Cymothoidae, Crustacea) from the southwestern Indian Ocean, including a new species from South Africa. Zootaxa, 3640(2), pp.152-176. |
| Gompper, Matthew E., and Elizabeth S. Williams. “Parasite conservation and the black-footed ferret recovery program.” Conservation Biology (1998): 730-732. | Rajkumar, M., Perumal, P. and Trilles, J.P., 2005. Cymothoa indica (Crustacea, Isopoda, Cymothoidae) parasitizes the cultured larvae of the Asian seabass Lates calcarifer under laboratory conditions. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 66(1), pp.87-90. |
| Jørgensen, Dolly. “Conservation implications of parasite co-reintroduction.” Conservation Biology 29.2 (2015): 602-604. | Hata, H., Sogabe, A., Tada, S., Nishimoto, R., Nakano, R., Kohya, N., Takeshima, H. and Kawanishi, R., 2017. Molecular phylogeny of obligate fish parasites of the family Cymothoidae (Isopoda, Crustacea): evolution of the attachment mode to host fish and the habitat shift from saline water to freshwater. Marine Biology, 164, pp.1-15. |
| Lymbery, Alan J., and Nico J. Smit. “Conservation of parasites: a primer.” International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife (2023). | Mladineo, I., Hrabar, J., Vidjak, O., Bočina, I., Čolak, S., Katharios, P., Cascarano, M.C., Keklikoglou, K., Volpatti, D. and Beraldo, P., 2020. Host-parasite interaction between parasitic cymothoid Ceratothoa oestroides and its host, farmed European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Pathogens, 9(3), p.230. |
| Marcogliese, David J. “Parasites: small players with crucial roles in the ecological theater.” EcoHealth 1.2 (2004): 151-164. | Horton, T. and Okamura, B., 2003. Post‐haemorrhagic anaemia in sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), caused by blood feeding of Ceratothoa oestroides (Isopoda: Cymothoidae). Journal of Fish Diseases, 26(7), pp.401-406. |
| Nichols, Elizabeth, and Andrés Gómez. “Conservation education needs more parasites.” Biological Conservation 144.2 (2011): 937-941. | Adlard, R.D. and Lester, R., 1994. Dynamics of the interaction between the parasitic isopod, Anilocra pomacentri, and the coral reef fish, Chromis nitida. Parasitology, 109(3), pp.311-324. |
| Poulin, Robert. “The functional importance of parasites in animal communities: many roles at many levels?.” International journal for parasitology 29.6 (1999): 903-914. | Carlson, C.J., Dallas, T.A., Alexander, L.W., Phelan, A.L. and Phillips, A.J., 2020. What would it take to describe the global diversity of parasites?. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 287(1939), p.20201841. |
| Thomas, Frédéric, et al. “Parasites and ecosystem engineering: what roles could they play?.” Oikos (1999): 167-171. | |
| Whiteman, Noah Kerness, and Patricia G. Parker. “Using parasites to infer host population history: a new rationale for parasite conservation.” Animal conservation forum. Vol. 8. No. 2. Cambridge University Press, 2005. |
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