Here's the abstract from the
Journal of Parasitology:
We report a case of oral stings by spermatophores of the squid Todarodes
pacificus . A 63-yr-old Korean woman experienced severe pain in her
oral cavity immediately after eating a portion of parboiled squid along
with its internal organs. She did not swallow the portion, but spat it
out immediately. She complained of a pricking and foreign-body sensation
in the oral cavity. Twelve small, white spindle-shaped, bug-like
organisms stuck in the mucous membrane of the tongue, cheek, and gingiva
were completely removed, along with the affected mucosa. On the basis
of their morphology and the presence of the sperm bag, the foreign
bodies were identified as squid spermatophores.
Via
Science 2.0, which offers this information:
Each spermatophore includes an ejaculatory apparatus, which can expel
the sperm mass quite forcefully, and a cement body for attachment... In order not to leave calamari connoisseurs unduly freaked out, I should
clarify two points. First, most Western squid preparations remove the
internal organs and serve only the muscle, so there's no danger of
accidentally ingesting spermatophores. Second, it's perfectly fine to
handle spermatophores--just don't put them in your mouth.
And a third point. The woman was eating squid that was only parboiled - not exactly raw but also not exactly cooked.
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