The "alien worm" eaten in the mouth of the bladder fish was identified as a shrunken-headed fish lice

Peninsula Metropolis Daily, September 28 (reporter Jing Yi) On September 27, Mr. Liu, a citizen, bought several bladder fish in the morning market, and as a result, he ate two cockroach-sized bugs in the mouth of the fish. Identified by experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the insect is scientifically known as the shrunken-headed fish lice, which is a kind of isopod fish monster genus, which is specially parasitic in the mouth and gills of fish, relying on the absorption of the host's blood to survive and reproduce, although ugly but harmless to the human body, and even edible.

"It's crazy, eating bladder fish and eating two big bugs." At noon on the 27th, Mr. Liu, a citizen, told reporters that he bought a few bladder fish at the Luoyang Road morning market that morning, made a few at noon, and found bugs in the mouth of a bladder fish while eating. The bug is more than 1 centimeter long, similar in size to a cockroach, and has a hard shell on the surface. What is even more maddening is that the insect has two rows of calves in the abdomen, of which the two legs of the head are longer and have hooks at the ends, and the tail is fan-shaped, and the overall image is very ugly, and the family is vomiting when they see it. Mr. Liu searched for the remaining fish and found another identical bug.

Mr. Liu said that he was an old Qingdao native who had eaten marine fish for 30 years and had never seen such a bug. Upon inquiry, many market vendors could not name the bugs. On the afternoon of the 28th, the reporter consulted Liu Jing, a fish expert at the Institute of Oceanography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Liu Jing said that the insect found by the public is a parasite, scientifically known as the shrunken-headed fish lice, is a crustacean, and the sea cockroach that travels between the reefs on the sea is a close relative, which parasitizes the mouth and gills of the fish. The shrunken-headed fish lice are ugly in appearance, and foreign countries have named it Betty Parasite, and there is a more figurative name called alien worm, and some alien creatures or mutants in science fiction movies are based on it.

Liu Jing said that this insect is quite common in seabream and trevally marine fish, which will cause host fish tissue damage, anemia, weight loss, slow growth, mortality rate, etc., but it is non-toxic and harmless for people, and can even be eaten, which is a high-protein food.

Liu Jing reminded that the general public should pay more attention to the nematodes in the intestines of fish, and must clean up the internal organs when eating fish, it is best to eat them after full heating, so as to avoid parasites and harmful microorganisms invading the human body and causing harm.