Oh, what animals do is never wrong. They don't have morality like we do. They can go into another environment and wipe out the native species and never be wrong. They are just doing what they do. Odd that when we do it, its wrong, huh?
According to the wikipedia article in the OP, the fish remains perfectly fine after the loss of its tongue. The loss is not detrimental to the fish as it uses the parasite in place of its tongue. That’s what makes this so fascinating. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I guess the question is is this a parasite or is it a symbote, sure when its sucking the blood out of the tongue its acting parasitic but once the tongue is gone if it acts as the tongue its symbotic (especially if its just feeding off mucus)
I've heard about that! People are overly pure of parasites so the body's immune system works against itself. This guy had something with his immune system attacking so he purposely infested himself with hook worms.
I don't know about that. There are alot of beneficial parasites we can find. Lactobacilli in association with a vaginal epithelial cell (CDC). There seems to be an equal amount of good symbiosis which are mutualist, or commensalism, but yeah there are equally amount of bad parasitic relationships. however we can change that around ... like with e-coli and using it for beneficial gains.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
We also have large numbers of viral infections via retrovirus that have become part of our species' DNA. That is a form of smybiosis, is it not, even if the virus is no longer reproducing independently, but instead via our sex organs?