WEBVTT - Ep 165 Fish Tongue Parasite: Parasite Appreciation Hour 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.400 My name is doctor Jack Abrams. I'm a physician at 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.840 the Atlantic Hospital in Maryland. I'm making this video in 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:08.480 the hope that I will be able to watch it 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:10.560 at some point in the future, and I'm going to 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.840 show the world what happened here. I locked myself in 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:18.720 the ICU, the CDC stopped taking my phone calls, called FEMA. 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:21.919 Help hasn't arrived. I think I now know what is 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:25.320 killing people. We were looking for some kind of virus, 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:28.920 some kind of viral outbreak. I now know this is 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:32.879 not a virus. This is an organism. It is an 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.440 organism that has somehow infiltrated people's bodies. The blistering, that's 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:40.640 a symptom. That is what threw us off. It is 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:45.879 the isopod. It's eating their organs. It's literally eating them 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:48.680 from the inside. It is eating their intestines, it is 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.080 eating their liver. It goes for the kidneys, lungs, tissue. 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.280 This is a rapidly growing, accelerating organism. How it's growing 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:00.280 this fast, I have no idea. I noticed this rash 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.000 about forty five minutes ago, and I'm going to continue 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.319 to take the camera and I'm going to document everything 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.440 that I see here. If you find this tape, just 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:58.040 please get it out. Karin. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:01.880 It was so hard not to laugh. I loved I 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:06.680 loved your rendition of it. Clearly I am not an actor, 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:11.560 but I disagree with it. I disagree based on that beautiful. 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:15.519 And that is my audition tape for The Bay too. 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:17.640 You're hired. 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:25.680 Yes, that magnificent piece of fiction is I pulled from 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:30.200 this incredible movie from twenty twelve called The Bay, which 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:35.120 really the creature at the heart of this episode is 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.799 also the creature at the heart of this creature feature film. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.079 Oh my goodness, it's amazing. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:45.119 Hi. 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.320 I'm Aaron Welsh and I'm Eron Alman Updyke. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.160 And this is this podcast will kill you. 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:54.680 It's a little different of an episode perhaps today it 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:55.280 really is. 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:57.720 I think this is one of the first episodes where 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:00.440 we were just like, let's do this weird look thing 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:01.720 that we don't know anything about. 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.639 There's got to be a story there. Yeah, and there is, 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:10.119 and a movie, a whole movie about it. 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:11.320 Yeah. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.880 We are covering what is commonly known as the fish 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.160 tongue parasite. 0:03:17.600 --> 0:03:20.640 Right, or the fish eating laus tongue eating or tongue 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:23.960 eating lause not fish eating lause fish. 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.320 I mean there are lice or well isopods, yes, marine 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:28.680 isopods that eat fish. 0:03:28.960 --> 0:03:30.040 Yeah, this is what they do. 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:33.200 So it's a nicapod that we're talking about today. You've 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:36.040 probably have you seen the pictures. If you haven't, will 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:37.120 will you will? 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:39.520 Yeah, by the end of this episode, it is an 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:43.280 adorable little isopod sticking out of the mouth of a 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:45.960 fish or it's like in there right where it's tongue 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.960 should be. That's because it has eaten the fish's tongue 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:50.960 and replaced it. 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:54.560 We'll get into it a lot of it. And it's 0:03:54.640 --> 0:04:01.920 organ replacing parasites. I mean, amazing. Yeah, there is a 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.040 lot of fun stuff to cover today, but first. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:05.840 It's quarantiny time. 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:06.920 It is Aaron. 0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.680 What are we drinking this week? Well, we're drinking Laos 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.000 Got your Tongue? Yeah cause you know, we just said it. 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:14.880 We just said it. 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:18.840 That's the name of it. Yes, Laos Got your Tongue. 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.080 It's your standard. My tie, which I'm shocked that we 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.760 haven't actually done before, but no we haven't. So in 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:30.560 your standard my tie is rum cursow orsia and lime juice. 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.159 It's fantastic. Yeah. So delishous. So we'll push the full 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.320 recipe for that quarantini and the non alcoholic plasy Burta 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.600 on our website, this podcast, wiki dot com, and on 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:42.440 all of our social media channels. So make sure that 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:45.120 you're following us and you can see all the picks 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:48.919 and also videos of this recording that we do. 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:50.800 Go now, yeah, we do do that. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.200 You can see Aaron's fish shirt by the way. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.679 Yes, minno madness. We's got sunglasses. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:04:59.920 It's a very cute fish. It's non effect. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.960 Did yeah I tell he's drinking what appears to be 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:05.800 a my tie could tie. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.680 That's pretty thrilling, yes, oh yeah. 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:14.000 But also on our website you can find all sorts 0:05:14.040 --> 0:05:18.040 of things from transcripts, you can find the resources that 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:20.400 we use to put together all of these episodes. You 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:22.960 can find links to bookshop dot org, affiliate account, our 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:29.560 Goodreads list, music by Bloodmobile, merch, some pretty sweet merch, Patreon, 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.240 a contact us form if you want to reach out 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.240 suggest an episode. You can invite us to give a talk. 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.800 We'd love that. You can ask us to do a workshop, 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:42.320 or you can say, hey, here's my first hand account. 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.279 There's a first hand account form for that. And other stuff. 0:05:45.360 --> 0:05:46.600 There's so much stuff there. 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:51.240 Yeah, well, shall we take a quick break and then 0:05:51.320 --> 0:06:30.080 get into the creature feature of this week. Let's do it. So, 0:06:30.200 --> 0:06:34.680 the creatures that we're discussing today are isopods, and I 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.680 thought we should start by what the heck is an isopod. 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:39.159 It's a good starting point. 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:45.120 Yeah. Isopods are crustaceans, which means that they're arthropods, so 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.640 they have exoskeletons that they shed between life stages in 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:52.320 order to grow. And these are more closely related to 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:56.640 like crabs and lobsters, which are also crustaceans they're decapods, 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.760 than they are to like bugs or insects, which are 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:05.800 of terrestrial arthropods. So the isopods that everyone listening is 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:08.680 probably most familiar with, whether you realized it or not, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:13.200 are like roly polies, right or also known as woodlice, 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.600 also known as armadillo bugs, pill bugs. There's so many 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:18.160 colloquial names for these. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.840 Yeah, what did you grow up calling them roly polies too? 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:27.360 Yeah, roly polis. I'm always curious where the different names are. 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:29.480 I'm sure there's a map for that, Yeah. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:33.720 There probably is. What did you call them listeners. Roly polis, 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:34.600 I love that name. 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:35.840 It's very cute. 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:41.440 But so the roly polies are terrestrial isopods. Most isopods 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:46.360 are not terrestrial. Most of them are marine or freshwater dwelling. 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:50.800 There are probably at least ten thousand species of isopod 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:54.080 in the world, and they make their home everywhere across 0:07:54.120 --> 0:07:57.600 the entire globe. And some of these isopods make their 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:04.600 homes inside of other creatures, meaning their parasites and parasitic 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:08.120 isopods come in a lot of different flavors, many of 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:12.800 which infect fish hosts. Fish are really phenomenal hosts for 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:18.080 so many parasites, and many isopods infect fish in a 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.440 whole bunch of different ways. Some of them might infect 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:26.600 fish externally, like attaching on near their eyeballs. Some of 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.040 them might attach in the guild chambers. Some of them 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.440 might even burrow their way like part way into their flesh. 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:39.439 And some live in the mouth holes of fish. And 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.880 that is the isopods, or those are the isopods that 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:44.720 we're focusing on today. 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:51.760 Mouthhole mouth holes like mouth, yeah, mouth, Just wondering the 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:54.680 whole part at it, I mean, yeah, the whole the 0:08:54.760 --> 0:09:00.400 whole hole they're in there, and there is not just 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:05.400 one of these so called tongue stealing parasites, No, no, no, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:06.880 there are many. 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:13.000 In fact, they primarily fall in the family Cymothoidae, and 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.400 within that family, there's a couple genera that seem the 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:21.000 most common to specifically do this tongue stealing thing. That 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:26.000 is the genus simo Thoa and Seratothoa, But there's several 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.400 other as well, and I think the phylogeny seems to 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:33.480 be influx. Yeah, the most famous of these, I think 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:35.760 the one that has gotten the most popular press is 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:40.720 Simothoa egg sigua. If that's how you pronounce it correctly. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.720 Your guess is as good as my, which is probably 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:44.199 not great. 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.200 So we can use that species as an example since 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.600 it's maybe one of the most popular ones. But all 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:55.920 of these family of isopods share a pretty similar life cycle, 0:09:56.520 --> 0:09:59.000 and we definitely don't know everything that there is to 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:03.120 know about these parasites, so there's a lot more that 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:07.239 we can learn, And because there's so many different species 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:11.480 which infect such a wide range of host fish, we're 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.320 gonna look really broad strokes at what their general life 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:18.720 cycle looks like to understand these parasites. So in general, 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:24.800 these baby simothoids when they're born, they're born as like 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.920 a live birth kind of because isopods have a brood 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.680 pouch that's called a marsupium, kind of like a kangaroo 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.120 or a koala. It's adorable, isn't it. And so they 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.000 hold their young, their eggs in this little pouch and 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.560 then they hatch, and then they develop through several little 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.560 life stages before they're ready to go off on their own. 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.800 So baby simothoids, which are also called manca or mank 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.640 that's the like baby form. Oh my god, I know 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.000 so many, so many weird names, like don't call them larva, 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:06.240 they're called wow okay. And once they leave their mothers, 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.000 they are free in the water, and they will first 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:15.680 attach to a host. Sometimes they might attach to a 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:19.360 host fish that they didn't mean to, like maybe not 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.640 the one that they really wanted. So then they might 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.120 take a few nibbles from somewhere on the fish and 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:28.679 then drop off. And eventually the point is to find 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.040 a suitable host. What species of fish that is will 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:36.280 depend on the species of isopod, but the goal is 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.480 to find a host that it's well adapted to which 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:42.280 is going to be some type of bony fish, and 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:46.280 once they do, they will attach to that final host. 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:51.200 Every single one of these isopods, these cymothoid isopods, is 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:55.200 born a male. So once they attach to their final 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:58.920 fish host, they will look around and if they're the 0:11:58.960 --> 0:12:03.320 first ones there colonizing this host, they will change their 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:04.720 sex into a female. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:05.800 That's amazing. 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:11.360 I know. It's called protandrius hermaphrodism, and it's a form 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.880 of what's called sequential hermaphrodism. So they're all born with 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.080 one sex and then some of them will go on 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:21.960 to change sexes over time, rather than simultaneous hermaphrodism, which 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.840 is something like snails which have both male and female 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:25.920 organs at the same time. 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.000 Right, right, It's fascinating. 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:31.200 But what this does is it allows for these isopods 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:35.520 to attach change if needed, into a female, and then 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.960 every other isopod that finds that same host will then 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.920 be a male that they'll be able to mate with 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.120 and then make eggs from there. Right. 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:47.360 That's incredible because I kept seeing like the female isopods 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:50.199 are the ones that replace and I'm like, I wonder 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:50.920 why that is. 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.880 But huh. It just means that she was the first 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:54.679 one to attach. 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:56.040 Yeah wow. 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:00.160 And then this isopod will live essentially the rest of 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:07.320 its entire life attached to that host, primarily eating their blood. Okay, 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:10.800 not eating scraps of whatever the fish is eating. Not 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.800 eating scraps of whatever the fish is eating. Some species, 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.640 because again we're talking about a pretty wide range of 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:21.760 different cymothoid isopods here. Some of them, it's thought maybe 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:25.679 feed more like on tissue in the fish's mouth, but 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:29.400 again it's feeding on the fish host itself, not on 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.240 what the fish is eating. But some have different mouthparts 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.439 that maybe look more like they're sucking pure blood versus 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:40.280 eating the fish tissue. But in any case, they're feeding 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:41.520 on the fish. 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.200 And you said the rest of their lives? How long 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:45.600 is that? 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:47.160 I knew that you were going to ask me that 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:55.000 questionnairein I don't know. Again, there's so many different species 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:57.120 for at least one of these, and the paper that 0:13:57.160 --> 0:13:59.480 I found wasn't actually looking at one of these mouth 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:03.280 dwelling isopods, but it was a different simathoid isopod that 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.200 attaches near the eyeball of a fish. Those can live 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:08.480 for at least one year. 0:14:09.080 --> 0:14:09.440 Okay? 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.839 Does that mean that they all can live at least 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:15.480 one year? Do any live longer? Who knows? Okay? 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:17.960 So they spend the rest of their lives. At what 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:23.240 point then, do they like? So they are reproducing while 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:27.440 replacing the tongue, while acting as the tongue. 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.200 While acting as the tongue. Okay, okay. So essentially it's 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:36.040 like this one isopod finds a fish. They are the 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.920 first ones there, so they're going to attach in the mouth. 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:41.320 For the ones that we're talking about today, they'll attach 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:46.040 in the mouth far back in the buckle cavity of 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:48.560 the fish, kind of near the gills, but not quite 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.280 near the gills, and then they will transform into their 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.160 final form, and in this case, if it's the first 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:55.200 one there, they'll transform into a female. That's the one 0:14:55.200 --> 0:15:00.280 that's going to take up the whole mouth where they attach. Generally, 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.720 because they're feeding on blood. What it does is it 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:06.320 disrupts the blood flow to the fish's tongue to such 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:10.479 a degree that that fish tongue essentially begins to die. 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:14.760 And then this isopod is able to grow and fill 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:19.440 that entire buckle cavity, the entire mouth hole of that fish, 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:24.240 kind of replacing where that tongue used to be. Other 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:28.120 isopods will also find this fish and they will attach, 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.160 sometimes closer to the gills, sometimes just farther back in 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:35.600 that buckle cavity which again connects to the gills, because 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:39.480 that's how the fish is breathing. And those will remain 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.080 as males. The males are much smaller than the females, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.640 so they'll be farther back and they won't get as big, 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:48.360 and they'll be able to mate, and then that female 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.160 will have that has that little brood pouch, so it's 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:53.600 just holding a bunch of little eggs that are growing 0:15:53.680 --> 0:16:11.560 and then releasing as they're ready to do so today. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.360 Okay, so a couple questions. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:20.320 You said that, like finding the right host, I know 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:24.040 that a wide variety of fishes are affected or like 0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:29.320 can be infested. I guess with this parasite and then 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.920 it will grow. So is its growth limited by the 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:37.080 size of the fish's mouth or do they find fish 0:16:37.120 --> 0:16:39.320 that have a big enough mouth? Do they ever grow 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:41.560 so big that the fish can't actually feed? 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:45.280 Aaron? I love you're such an ecologist. 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:48.440 Thank you. 0:16:51.440 --> 0:17:01.480 These are all great questions where to begin. So, there 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:04.640 are a lot of different species of simothoids and they 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:08.720 can infect essentially like any fish that you imagine, they 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.480 probably there's probably a simothoid that could infect that fish. 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:16.840 Some of these species of isopod are more host specific 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:22.320 than others, and some are less host specific. Okay, the 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.720 question of like how big do they grow? Why do 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.200 some grow bigger and some grow some don't grow as large? 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:32.720 We don't really know, Like does that depend on just 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:35.920 who they ended up in? Is that part of why 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:39.760 there are strong host associations between some of these isopods 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:40.840 and some of their hosts. 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:43.240 These are all really great questions. 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:47.239 They're like evolutionary questions, they're like ecological questions because then 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.680 it's also like what is it doing to this fish? 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.000 So there's a lot to unpack there that we don't 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:57.199 fully know the answer to. Okay, so let's talk a 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.320 little bit more about like what this ends up up 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:06.520 looking like and what this ends up doing to the fish. Yeah. Yeah, 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.080 So first I want to talk about what this looks 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:11.000 like to give everyone like a mental image we're just 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:16.320 seeing like a tongue replacing what what if Google image 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:19.399 search it? But then also I'll describe it for you. 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.320 I also first want to say that a fish tongue 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.119 is different than our tongue, and this is important for 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.840 the idea that a fish could have their tongue replaced 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:37.720 in function by a parasite. Our tongue is this massive muscle, right, 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.520 So our tongue is really important in moving food around 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:43.960 in our mouth, pushing it from side to side. It's 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.640 also important in moving food to the back of our 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.720 throat so that we can actually engage our swallow reflex. 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.719 And we also use our tongue to speak to talk. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.760 It's important in our breathing because it has to move 0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:00.199 in certain ways. But a fish tongue is not like that. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.640 A fish tongue doesn't have any skeletal muscle of its own. 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:11.480 It's just like a little meaty bit. It's not a muscle, 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:17.119 it's just flesh. What does it do. It's essentially a 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:20.920 mechanical device that just helps hold prey up against the 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.679 roof of the mouth so that the fish can do 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:25.840 whatever it needs to do, eat that prey and then 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:28.359 swallow it. But there's no muscle. But there's no muscle 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.440 to it. And if you look, if you google image, 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.800 there's a whole bunch of pictures of fish mouths without parasites. 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.680 Some of them don't even have that much of a 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:39.560 meaty tongue. Some just to have like this kind of 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:44.480 flat surface. Some have what almost look like teeth all 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.639 along the bottom like of their palate. So there's a 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.000 pretty wide variety of what a fish mouth might look like, 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.800 but they're none of them as complicated as like a 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.600 muscle that needs to be able to move around and 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.000 so well. The paper from nineteen eighty three by breusket 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:07.240 at All then first kind of proposed this hypothesis that 0:20:07.600 --> 0:20:12.760 the isopod could functionally replace a fish's tongue kind of 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:15.600 really brought this to light, like it's not it makes 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.720 sense that this isopod could serve that same function because 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:19.280 it's not that. 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.600 Hard if not anyone could do it. 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:24.719 Like anyone could do it, an isopod could do it. 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:30.360 So what does it then look like when a parasite 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:32.600 is replacing a fish's tongue. 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.520 It's frankly adorable. It is so adorable. 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.520 So we might be outliers in this because when I 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:43.920 showed John, I was like, this, isn't this adorable? 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.080 And he's like, is that the word is that? Is 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:47.600 that right? 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.760 Is that the correct adjective? And I'm like, it certainly is. 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:53.199 I know when I was describing it to Brett, he 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.520 was like visibly shook where he just was. 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:01.480 Well, I think because we immediately put ourselves in the 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:06.560 position of having an isopod, a large isopod in our 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:09.600 mouths forever, which is. 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.719 Not what happened in the bay, by the way, Oh 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:12.080 it's not. 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:14.959 No, the tongues were gone and then they were Everyone 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:16.720 was eating from the inside out. You know, it's eating 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:18.880 the kidneys, it's eating the the livers. 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:21.280 It seems much more intense than just the tongue. 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:23.879 Yeah, I mean, there wasn't. It wasn't, let's say, the 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:25.959 most scientifically accurate movie. 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:27.639 Oh. I'm really shocked to hear that. 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:29.800 I enjoyed it though. 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:34.760 Okay, So if you see a front on view of 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.680 like an open fish mouth that's infected with one of 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:41.119 these parasites, the first thing that you'll notice is a 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:45.520 pair of black eyes staring at you cut, and then 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.560 this little kind of almost triangular shaped head, it's like 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:50.560 a little bit round on top, and then a little 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:54.160 pointy little looks like a chin. Yeah, and then they 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:57.240 have what looked like almost little hands curled up under 0:21:57.240 --> 0:21:59.320 their chin, like the way that a raccoon kind of 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:03.720 holds their across their chest. It's like, hi, hi there, 0:22:04.160 --> 0:22:07.280 it's how it talks. Oh hi, I'm just making my 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:08.760 little home year its cave. 0:22:08.920 --> 0:22:09.520 Don't mind me. 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:11.800 And then you can see what almost look like kind 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:15.240 of scales that disappear back into the fish's mouth. They're 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.480 not really scales, but isopods are arthropods, and so they 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:22.600 have segmented body parts like a shrimp or something. And 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:27.640 then these guys have seven pairs of these little leggy things. 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:31.480 They're called parapods, and they end in these pretty sharp 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:36.800 little hooks that they use to attach themselves to the fish. Ooh, 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:40.760 just like hook in there. If you were to look, 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:43.159 so that's what you see if you look straight on, 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:46.840 like aw in an open fish's mouth. If you were 0:22:46.880 --> 0:22:49.600 looking at a fish in cross section, like you sliced 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:52.359 off the side of their cheek, and then you were 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.240 looking at what this isopod looked like, you would see 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.600 something that looks an awful lot like a roly poly. 0:23:00.240 --> 0:23:05.800 It's white usually. And then based on most of the 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.800 pictures that I've seen and I haven't seen one of 0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:11.040 these in real life, but they are usually quite a 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:13.840 bit bigger, depending on the species of fish that they're infecting, 0:23:14.000 --> 0:23:16.359 than most roly pulleys in your yard. And they're a 0:23:16.440 --> 0:23:20.600 little bit more flattened door so ventrally, so like tummy 0:23:20.680 --> 0:23:22.679 to back. They're a little more flat so that they 0:23:22.720 --> 0:23:26.000 can fit in their fish's little mouth there yea, And 0:23:26.119 --> 0:23:29.119 this isopod essentially will take up like the entirety of 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.520 the fish's mouth, the female will at least, and then 0:23:32.600 --> 0:23:36.119 sometimes if you do that cross section, you might see 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:39.440 one a smaller one further back, like almost halfway into 0:23:39.480 --> 0:23:43.919 the gill cavity. And that is what it looks like 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:46.640 to be infected with one of these isopods. 0:23:46.880 --> 0:23:50.160 There are some amazing pictures out there. 0:23:50.280 --> 0:23:55.359 Really really incredible. If you're not following us on social media, 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:57.639 you'll have to Google search for yourself. You should just 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:01.399 follow us. We've posted the teachers. If you were wondering 0:24:01.400 --> 0:24:02.400 when's the time, it's now. 0:24:02.800 --> 0:24:03.080 Okay. 0:24:03.119 --> 0:24:05.960 I have a question though about the effects, because we 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:08.960 basically said, okay, well, you know, it's a job so easy, 0:24:09.000 --> 0:24:11.680 and I suppod could do it, as in replacing the tongue, 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:15.479 but it's not just replacing the tongue, it's also taking blood. 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:19.600 So are the fish negatively impacted by that aspect? 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:23.040 That is a really important question. A lot of the 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:25.520 studies that have looked at what the effects are on 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:29.080 the fish that are infected are primarily in aquaculture settings 0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:32.080 with farmed fish, which is logical because not only is 0:24:32.080 --> 0:24:34.280