[Fred Nerks]

Parasitic Nomadic - like a slime-mould that travels...when times are lean the spores clump together into a wormlike creature and when times are good, the spores spread out...
Can't remember what it's called. But it isn't animal, it's a plantform...I think.

Lampreys are a good analogy, but don't lampreys also serve a cleansing function? They eat the bits that fall out of the host's mouth...

Hey, Google 'Islam Parasitic' and you'll find 193,000 entries...

[pierrem15]

Almost everything they ever developed was borrowed from others, art and architecture from the Persians and Byzantines, philosophy and theology from the Greeks, mathematics from the Indians and Greeks.

The only notable invention I can think of that has come from the Islamic world is the lateen sail.