h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As this has been picked by a scout, it's now in the hands of the sub-ed, so I'll leave it to their () discretion.

But I will say that there's nowt wrong with that wording in living, breathing, vital English, like wot is spoke by most of us.

Nah, I'm taking the piss a wee bit, but thanks h5ringer - critical comments are always good too.

Hi KB. I'm sub-editing this. I've two questions:

"The host fish respires, as most do, by taking the oxygen from the water as it passes through the fish's gills."

Am I right in thinking the fish takes in water through its mouth and expels it through its gills? That would explain how the louse gets into the fish's mouth.

"they can grow almost as large as a man's finger"

The pictures show it as being as fat as a man's finger, but much shorter - perhaps an inch long. Or are there longer ones?

In answer to the question about oxygen intake, yes the water passes through the open mouth of the fish and exits via gill flaps at the side of a fish's head. In between that, the water flows over the gills which are ridged to provide as much surface area as possible for the respiration gaseous exchange to take place. (Oxygen in and carbon dioxide out)