Q 01/05

The isopod Cymothoa exigua enters a snapper through its gills and ends up replacing which body part?

A) Eyeball

B) Tongue

C) Stomach

D) Tail fin

Answer · why

B) Tongue

Tongue tissue dies once the isopod's claws cut off its blood supply, and the animal then grips the stub and sits in its place. The fish can use the in...

Q 02/05

The slender pearlfish hides from predators by slipping inside the rear end of which seafloor animal?

A) Sea cucumber

B) Sea urchin

C) Spiny lobster

D) Horseshoe crab

Answer · why

A) Sea cucumber

Sea cucumber breathing does the work: the animal draws water in through its anus, so the pearlfish only has to wait for the door to open. Most of thes...

Q 03/05

Which tiny animals of the genus Demodex live unnoticed in the hair follicles around human eyelashes and noses?

A) Lice

B) Fleas

C) Mites

D) Ticks

Answer · why

C) Mites

Mites of two Demodex species live on human faces, and one DNA study found them on every adult it tested. They crawl over the skin at night and usually...

Q 04/05

Which zombie video game series based its outbreak on Ophiocordyceps, a real fungus that hijacks ants?

A) Resident Evil

B) The Last of Us

C) House of the Dead

D) Dying Light

Answer · why

B) The Last of Us

The Last of Us imagines the fungus jumping to humans. In real rainforests it steers an infected ant to climb a plant and lock its jaws onto a leaf, th...

Q 05/05

Which fish, coated in a protective layer of mucus, lives unharmed among the stinging tentacles of sea anemones?

A) Seahorse

B) Lionfish

C) Pufferfish

D) Clownfish

Answer · why

D) Clownfish

Clownfish gain a home that few predators dare enter, and they pay rent by driving off anemone-eating fish and fanning their host with their fins.