Gross science: This parasite crawls into a fish's mouth and replaces its tongue. Enough said.

Note: In this video, we refer to the parasites as "protoandritic." The real word is "protandric." We take accuracy very seriously and we apologize for the error. Thank you to the viewer who pointed this out.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Produced, edited, and animated by Anna Rothschild

Production Assistant Allison Eck

Special Thanks Stefanie Kaiser

Original Footage © WGBH Educational Foundation 2013

ADDITIONAL MEDIA CREDITS

(Ceratothoa sp in Blacktail) Host: Diplodus sargus sargus (common names: blacktail or white seabream) Locality: Tsitsikamma National Park, Eastern Cape, South Africa © Nico Smit

Pfiff_whistle.wav Freesound/tommorawe (Public Domain)

Cockroaches.wav Freesound/StateAardvark (CC BY-NC 3.0)

Woman Scream Freesound/sironboy (CC BY 3.0)

Remix of 166634_timbre_remix-of-76288-timbre-dramatic-violin-stab-long-decay.flac Freesound/Timre (CC BY-NC 3.0)