Crickets, worms, frogs, and fish. Oh boy!

Gordian worms (Paragordius tricuspidatus) parasitize crickets and eventually force the cricket they're parasitizing to drown itself. Then, after the cricket drowns, the worms have to avoid being eaten by both frogs and fish. They're pretty cool worms.

Carl Zimmer has just put up a detailed post about them, and it starts off with this absolutely perfect intro:

At the Loom we believe that the path to wisdom runs through the Land of Gross.

We do not show you pictures of worms crawling out of frog noses merely to ruin your lunch. We do not urge you to check out these freaky videos of worms crawling out of frog mouths and fish gills merely to give you something to talk about at the high school cafeteria table tomorrow (Dude, you totally will not believe what I saw...) These images have something profound to say.

Be sure to watch the videos.

Categories:

• biology
• parasite