Tongue Louse

There can be few phrases more likely to induce a gagging reflex than "a tongue-eating parasite found inside a fish dish..." According to this story from the BBC someone was preparing a red snapper for dinner and found something strange in its mouth.

It turned out to be less harmful than it looked, but lets face it, it would be difficult for anything to actually be as harmful as that thing looks!

Here comes the science...

This site explains that the beastie in question is called Cymothoa exigua. A bit of a mouthful - 'tongue louse' is a much better name for a band - but then the animal itself is a bit of a mouthful for unfortunate fish.

What the thing does is this: it 'causes degeneration' of the fish's tongue, then it attaches itself to the stub and pretends to be the fish's tongue. A gruesome prospect for the poor old fish, but it is the only known example of a parasite which eats part of its host then acts as a replacement for the eaten part.

The good news is that it has only been found in the Gulf of California. And now Lewisham. There is no suggestion that it eats the tongues of humans - just the red snappers where it comes from.

No jazz-funk, or smooth soul band is ever likely to snap up the name, so Tongue Louse will be something a bit more earthy; someone looking for a slightly disreputable and disgusting name in the way that Rancid or Corrosion of Deformity have. It might be fitting for a death metal band, as they all sing as if suffering from tongue lice themselves.

(Thanks to Councillor Andrew Brown of Lewisham for bringing this to wider attention)