1. The Tongue-Replacing Louse. Cymothoa exigua is a parasitic crustacean, and the only known parasite that actually replaces a host organ. The young louse attaches itself to the base of the tongue of Rose Snappers, extracting blood through its claws. Eventually the tongue, deprived of blood, atrophies and withers away. The parasite then attaches its body to the muscles of the tongue stub, allowing the fish to use it as a functioning tongue.
2. Brain Worms These small, thread like worms actually live peacefully inside the skulls of white-tailed deer in North America, causing no problems for the host. Unfortunately they are sometimes picked up by other animals such as moose, where they can cause extensive brain damage.
3. Eye Worms. The Indian Journal of Opthalmology has published dozens of papers on worm infestation of the eye, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. The photo below shows the surgical removal of one example.
4. The Penis Fish (Candiru). The picture below doesn't look too scary until you realize where this small eel has just been extracted from - the urethra of a man's penis. While fishing for piranha in the Amazon last year I was reliably informed that the Candiru - a small, translucent eel that normally invades fish gills - is the most feared creature in the Amazon.
5. Brainwashing Ant Fungus. This Carpenter Ant has fallen victim to a parasitic fungus of the genus Cordyceps. Having infiltrated the ant's body, the fungus penetrates the brain, manipulating the ant into climbing a plant to find a suitable position to release spores. You can read a fuller, gorier account at
Neurophilosophy .
6. The Tapeworm. Tapeworms infect the gut right? Not always. In some cases the eggs of the worm - which you can pick up by eating under-cooked pork - can enter the blood-stream and end up all over the body, including the infested brain of this unfortunate 9-year-old girl. Since the 80s, infections like this can be diagnosed with a CAT scan and cleared with drugs.
7. The Guinea Worm. Picked up from dirty water, the meter-long Guinea worm is much less of a threat these days thanks to the availability of cheap filters. The adult worms can be removed by gradually winding them onto a stick, as this photo demonstrates - a process that has to be performed tediously slowly, often taking weeks.
8. The Human Bot Fly Maggot - Breast. This photo shows what is medically described as
"Furuncular myiasis of the breast caused by the larvae of the Tumbu fly". The fly lays eggs in clothing from which the larvae hatch and burrow under the skin. Fully developed, they reemerge. Remarkably, once the maggots were removed, this woman's breast completely healed in a week or so.
9. The Human Bot Fly Maggot - Eye. If the last image wasn't grim enough, here's a shot taken from a paper titled Anterior Orbital Myiasis Caused by Human Botfly in the Archives of Ophthalmology, detailed the growth of a bot-fly maggot within this unlucky 5-year-old's eye orbit. Doctors removed the creature under a general anaesthetic.
10. Parasitic Wasp. Just to show that humans don't have it so bad really, here's an unfortunate caterpillar being gradually eaten alive by parasitic wasps. As revolting as they seem, many species of parasitic wasp play an important role in agricultural pest control.
3. Eye Worms. The Indian Journal of Opthalmology has published dozens of papers on worm infestation of the eye, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. The photo below shows the surgical removal of one example.
4. The Penis Fish (Candiru). The picture below doesn't look too scary until you realize where this small eel has just been extracted from - the urethra of a man's penis. While fishing for piranha in the Amazon last year I was reliably informed that the Candiru - a small, translucent eel that normally invades fish gills - is the most feared creature in the Amazon.
5. Brainwashing Ant Fungus. This Carpenter Ant has fallen victim to a parasitic fungus of the genus Cordyceps. Having infiltrated the ant's body, the fungus penetrates the brain, manipulating the ant into climbing a plant to find a suitable position to release spores. You can read a fuller, gorier account at
Neurophilosophy .
6. The Tapeworm. Tapeworms infect the gut right? Not always. In some cases the eggs of the worm - which you can pick up by eating under-cooked pork - can enter the blood-stream and end up all over the body, including the infested brain of this unfortunate 9-year-old girl. Since the 80s, infections like this can be diagnosed with a CAT scan and cleared with drugs.
7. The Guinea Worm. Picked up from dirty water, the meter-long Guinea worm is much less of a threat these days thanks to the availability of cheap filters. The adult worms can be removed by gradually winding them onto a stick, as this photo demonstrates - a process that has to be performed tediously slowly, often taking weeks.
8. The Human Bot Fly Maggot - Breast. This photo shows what is medically described as
"Furuncular myiasis of the breast caused by the larvae of the Tumbu fly". The fly lays eggs in clothing from which the larvae hatch and burrow under the skin. Fully developed, they reemerge. Remarkably, once the maggots were removed, this woman's breast completely healed in a week or so.
9. The Human Bot Fly Maggot - Eye. If the last image wasn't grim enough, here's a shot taken from a paper titled Anterior Orbital Myiasis Caused by Human Botfly in the Archives of Ophthalmology, detailed the growth of a bot-fly maggot within this unlucky 5-year-old's eye orbit. Doctors removed the creature under a general anaesthetic.
10. Parasitic Wasp. Just to show that humans don't have it so bad really, here's an unfortunate caterpillar being gradually eaten alive by parasitic wasps. As revolting as they seem, many species of parasitic wasp play an important role in agricultural pest control.
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