2008.03.25
フタゴムシ
原田克子
鯉の鰓に付着したフタゴムシは
もう一匹が流れて来るのを待つ
気長に待つ
呼び寄せる術がないのだ
フタゴムシは雌雄胴体なので
一匹でも卵を産めるのだが
大人になれない
二匹が出会えたら
自分の雄性生殖器を相手の雌性生殖器に
挿入して
左右対称につながり合う
いずれ二匹は腸まで癒合させ
対等の対峙は
夥しい卵を産出して
鰓に棲息する
鯉にしてみれば
搾取される養分によって衰弱し
不快さにのたうちまわるのだが
宿主が死ねば自分も死ぬことになる
フタゴムシは
鯉を殺したりはしない
が 不快と衰弱以外は与えない
共生ではなく
寄生なのだから
しかしもしかしたら
寄生虫とよばれるものたちの発生物質が
アレルギーを抑制しているのではないか
と 自分の腸にサナダムシを二匹飼っている
科学者はいった
フタゴムシの効能が認知されるまえに
環境ホルモン物質により
密度を濃くした水中で
鯉はメス化をまぬがれず
フタゴムシも消滅する朝がくる
※フタゴムシの生態は「目黒寄生虫館ガイドブック」より
詩集『シュールダンスをあなたと』より
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Written by Katsuko Harada
Translated by Townsman
March 21, 2008
Attaching itself to a gill of a carp
a diplozoon waits for another to come flowing up
only waits patiently
for they have no system to call each other
Since the diplozoon is hermaphroditic
it can lay eggs all by itself
but none can grow up in this way
When they happen to meet together
each of them tries to insert its male sexual organ
into the other’s female sexual organ
to connect each other
so that they can be a permanent symmetrical pair
Someday they’ll agglutinate even each of their bowels
The two, facing each other on equal terms,
lay a large number of eggs
and live on a carp
The carp, with its nutriment taken, grows weaker
thrashing about with displeasure
The diplozoon however never tries to kill the carp
for the death of the host would also mean its own death
It gives the carp nothing, except for displeasure and weakening
After all, it is a parasite, not a symbiont
Nevertheless
some substances that are created by organisms called parasites
may be controlling allergic reactions,
says a scientist
who keeps two tapeworms in his bowels
Before we find out the benefits of tapeworms
the carp in the water densified by hormone disruptors
will be unable to escape feminization
One morning the diplozoon may also die out
* The ecology of the diplozoon is from “Meguro Parasitological Museum Guidebook.”
From "Surreal dance with you," a collection of Katsuko Harada's poems