Species
Cymothoa exigua
Crustaceans
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Cymothoa exigua, known as the tongue-eating louse, is a parasitic isopod in the family Cymothoidae found throughout the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It lives as an ectoparasite on the outside of its host, and adults can grow up to about an inch long, making them among the largest isopods recorded. The species is a sequential hermaphrodite: every individual is born male and later switches to female, so mature females are generally larger than males.
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