Lonely Cat Anthology

Tongue-Eating Louse (From the Perspective of a Spotted Rose Snapper)

Tongue Eating Louse (I made this for a science presentation. T'was cool. It explains the quirks of Cymothoa Exigua (Tongue-Eating Louse) from the perspective of a Spotted Rose Snapper.)

The tongue-eating louse

Grasped onto my tongue

It sucked all my blood

Forever, it clung

I guess it’s quite small

Three centimeters long

It is a “kind” parasite

I noticed nothing at all

One would think that it’d eat

The food I consumed

But Cymothoa Exigua

Is not what’s assumed

Once it has drained

The blood from my tongue

On the remaining

Muscle it clung

It’s replaced an organ

And quite workable

It might sound like a horror film

From the sea and sable

I wonder how it got there?

Well it climbed through my gills

But don’t worry humans,

For you, it can’t kill

They inhabit where I live

And I’m a spotted rose snapper

So they live just off of Florida

Oh what a capper!

But recently they’ve been found

In the waters off Britain

Imported or migrated?

Who knows with these critters?

They can produce mucus

To deter predators

Aid in locomotion

And if defense occurs

These parasite crustaceans

Reproduce sexually

They hatch from small eggs

Submerged in the sea

So if you’re buying a fish

Just double check

That a tongue eating louse

Isn’t in neck