Without voice or will: the black crab in the parasite ritual

Abstract

This text delves into the brackish waters of the Laguna de Términos, Campeche, to narrate a biological story wrapped in metaphor and sensitivity. Through poetic prose, the black crab (Callinectes rathbunae) is presented as a symbolic creature of coastal balance, whose constant dance among mangroves and estuaries has made it a fundamental element of marine life and local fisheries. Yet beneath the surface of this seemingly harmonious landscape lies a dark and silent presence: the parasite Loxothylacus texanus. The piece intertwines science and literature to reveal how this rhizocephalan—an invasive organism—profoundly transforms its host. The parasite manipulates bodies and wills, suppressing the crab’s fertility and driving it to alien behaviors, such as incubating offspring that are not its own. Through symbolic and evocative language, the text unveils a quiet struggle between freedom and control, identity and submission, life and parasitism. This work invites readers to listen to the voices of the sea, which sometimes speak through imbalance. It is a call to observe the invisible, to recognize the ways in which nature transforms and is transformed, and to question what it means to inhabit a body when the will no longer belongs to it.