BBQ’d Tongue Eating Fish Parasite!

MMMM! Delicious! I love a good BBQ, but I can say with absolute certainty that BBQing a cymothoa exigua isn’t going to make it taste any better. That being said, these parasites do no real damage to fish they inhabit. And according to reliable sources, eating fish containing the parasite is perfectly safe.

Personally I’d be a little put off if something this gnarly looking crawled out of the face of my dinner, and so was David…

Tongue Eating Fish ParasiteTongue Eating Fish ParasiteTongue Eating Fish Parasite

I purchased a 6kg pack of sea bass, cleaned and gutted four and popped two of them on my barbecue.

After about 10 minutes I turned them over, and after a further 5 minutes went to check on them. It must have become too hot in there for the parasite, which became visible half out of the fish’s mouth.

I didn’t realize what it was, so didn’t check to see if the fish still had a tongue. I’m not even sure if the parasite crawled out, or was pushed out as a result of the fish cooking.

We are not intending to eat sea bass for a while!!

Regards,
David

Tongue Eating Fish Parasite

Thanks David!

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11 Responses to “BBQ’d Tongue Eating Fish Parasite!”

Chris

I can thankfully say I have yet to see one of these things. I feel itchy all over just from the photos!

Chris on July 8th, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
jwm

I have to agree it gives me the creeps.

Jonathon Marshall on July 8th, 2009 @ 7:23 pm
Clive

I saw several in the BVI, but always in smaller fish that I wasn’t eating…

Clive Mathias on July 8th, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
adam

That’s a big one too, quite a specimen.

chris, if you’ve ever eaten the Japanese dishes “aji nanban-zuke” or “tsumire” you have almost certainly eaten these creatures as well.

adam on July 8th, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
Woody

It looks like something out of Alien!…Are these in Saltwater Fish only or do they appear in Fresh as well?

Woody on July 9th, 2009 @ 1:49 am
Pierre

that’s definitely creepy!!!
I will doble chek next time i decide to cook a sea bass.
Where can we found this parasite?

Pierre on July 9th, 2009 @ 6:40 am
Simon Graham

Don’t know what all the fuss is about….Looks like perfectly good protein to me.

Simon Graham on July 9th, 2009 @ 8:08 am
adam

My personal record is finding three infecting the same animal (Rhexanella in a red snapper). It must have been quite a fight inside for the one tongue.

adam on July 9th, 2009 @ 9:52 pm
Clive

Three?? Did you get a photo of that – I think I remember seeing a photo on your site with two in the mouth, but I’ve never seen three!

Clive Mathias on July 9th, 2009 @ 10:05 pm
chris

Adam! Don’t say such things! I’ll never sleep again!

chris on July 9th, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
Stephen

Wow, now I’m going to have to look down the mouth of everything I eat. Or chop the head off and never look!

Stephen on July 13th, 2009 @ 11:27 pm

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