by Ruth S. Baker

“[T]he tongue-biting louse Cymothoa exigua… has made it to the shortlist of Guardian’s invertebrate of the year
competition … [When these] tiny crustaceans… come across a fish… [they] make a beeline for the gills and burrow
their way in, clinging to the base of the tongue. This is where the sinister transformation starts.”
—The Guardian

That scourge of tongues, Cymothoa exigua,
May soon be crowned this year’s invertebrate.
Some half-inch long, it cuts a modest figua,
But its effect on heedless fish is great:
It fastens on the tongue and makes a feast of it,
Sucking the blood and tissue to the bone:
This leaves the fish at risk, to say the least of it.
It’s then Cymothoa’s true worth is shown:
It funnels round the withered stump, thus letting it
Absorb nutrition. There’s no other way
For any tongue-deficient fish of getting it;
So what’s pushed down their throats they eat, OK?
Tongue-louse, sole friend of what it ossifies,
Cymothoa should surely win the prize!