Penis Fish

Author's Note: The Innkeeper worm, scientific name Urechis caupo, is a worm that lives in burrows under the sand along the western shores of North America. It is sometimes called the "Penis Fish" because of its resemblance to the human male sexual organ. In December 2019, it was reported that an unusual number of Penis Fish showed up on the beach at Drake's Bay in Point Reyes, California, as a result of having been disturbed from their burrows under the sand by a strong storm.

This story was inspired by the reports of that event.

x x x x

No one had ever seen anything quite like it before.

One day, after a big storm, beaches up and down the coast of Northern California lay covered in countless numbers of wriggling, pink tubes -- Innkeeper worms, also called "Penis Fish" because of their resemblance to the human male sexual organ. The worms typically lived under the sand, out of sight to people except on rare occasions. But, once in a while, storms would wash away the sand layer, disturbing the worms' burrows and exposing them in great numbers.

Still, never had so many of them been exposed at once, in so many different locations.

Professor Elizabeth Goodsen, a marine biologist working for the University of California, walked along a beach north of Santa Cruz, marveling at the sight. For as far as the eye could see, the sand was blanketed by the pink tubes of the worms, some still, some squirming. Swarming over them were crowds of people. Some of them picked up the strange creatures and played with them. Others gathered them to take them home. Still others just stared at the extraordinary phenomenon and took pictures with their smart phones.

Goodsen had come to collect a few specimens for testing and observation. A well-known specialist in marine annelids, she was familiar with this species of worm, but she had never seen them before in such numbers.

She stood over a clump of the worms, wriggling slowly on the sand. The nickname, "Penis Fish," fit. They were pink, thick, mostly five- to eight-inches long, with a distinct bulb at one end.

She picked one up. It was still living. She was surprised at its weight. The worm pulsed in a strange way beneath the grip of her fingers. She put it and a few others in collection bags. She also selected a few that appeared to be dead. They would be dissected at the lab, which was not more than 15 minutes away.

Elizabeth sneezed, loudly. She had been fighting a cold for several days. Her nose ran and her throat hurt.

Later in the morning, back at the lab, Elizabeth separated the living Penis Fish from the dead ones. She emptied the bag of dead ones into a stainless steel bowl. She dropped the living ones into a sturdy, glass-sided tank that had been prepared for them, with sand at the bottom and a pool of water at one end where the sand had been partly scooped out. It was a big tank, eight feet long. She dropped all the living Penis Fish into that tank, except one. She wanted to look at it more closely before she put it into the tank with the rest.

This worm was bigger than the others, maybe eight inches long, and thick enough that it was difficult to get a good grip around its girth. It wriggled and pulsed in her hand. Its ends flopped wildly to either side.

It looked strange to her. She'd seen Innkeeper worms before, but this one looked different. Elizabeth was puzzled. It was difficult to tell which end was the front and which was the back. Previous specimens she had encountered presented no such difficulty. Typically, the mouth was easy to identify by the proboscis that issued from it. But she saw no proboscis on the worm she held. One end of the worm ended in a small hole, which she assumed was the anus. While she held the wriggling worm, trying to keep it from slipping out of her grasp, a dollop of white cream emerged from the hole. It spilled onto the palm of her hand. The cream was warm. Her hand tingled pleasantly where the cream touched it.

She placed the worm in the tank. Instead of burrowing into the sand, it wriggled to the side of the tank and banged one of its ends against the glass. Elizabeth held her hand closer to her face. The cream from the worm slowly disappeared. Either it was evaporating into the air, or it was soaking into the pores of her skin. She couldn't tell which. But she noted the continuing feeling of pleasant warmth of the cream on her hand as it faded away.

Her curiosity piqued, Elizabeth turned to the steel bowl with the dead worm specimens. She picked up one of them and took it to an examination table. A high-powered microscope stood on the table. She gathered various knives and scalpels to dissect the specimen.

She inserted a scalpel at one end of the worm and sliced it down its length. She peeled back the two halves. What she saw unnerved her so much it made her gasp.

A worm's anatomy typically is simple. It takes in nutrients from one end -- the mouth -- and emits waste from the other end -- the anus. In between lie the organs of digestive tract, stretching from one end to the other, as well as a very rudimentary circulatory system and nervous system.

But this creature's interior was far more complex.

At one end, she saw no mouth. But she saw numerous small openings and tubes that coalesced in an interior pouch that she took to be a kind of stomach. In the middle of the worm's interior was a long, tubular sack full of the white fluid she had seen on her hand. A lengthy channel connected this sack to the opposite end of the worm, where it emitted the white fluid.

The strangest thing, though, was the prominent, spongy organ at the opposite end of the worm, near the many openings. It was dense, and its surface bore innumerable tiny bulges and ripples. It looked familiar. The tissue looked like that of a . . . brain.

A brain. It looked like a complex brain, like that of a mammal. But that was impossible. No worm she'd ever observed had anything that resembled a complex brain. But this one did.

Using a scalpel, Elizabeth cut a thin slice from the "brain." She placed it on a sliver of glass. She looked at the specimen under the microscope.

The microscope was powerful enough to observe the specimen at the cellular level. She adjusted the magnification. What she saw made no sense to her.

She saw what she understood to be cells, with membranes. But she saw no nuclei, or other familiar structures. The "cells" seemed to be filled with organelles of a kind she'd never seen before, moving in a fast, fluid motion inside each of the "cells."

Slowly, gradually, reluctantly, Elizabeth realized what she was looking at: a completely different organism. It wasn't an Innkeeper worm, or any kind of worm she'd ever seen. This was something utterly different.

A soft thud interrupted her thoughts. She looked to its source. It was the worm that she had held in her hand before, now inside the glass tank. It was at the edge, banging one of its ends against the glass.

Elizabeth stared at it, transfixed. It seemed to be trying to get her attention.

"This is impossible," she said out loud.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. She thought she should call Mark, another marine biologist, and the chief of the lab. He should know about this, she thought. She held her thumb over the face of the phone for a full minute, but she didn't call.

I'll tell him when he's in the lab tomorrow, she thought to herself.

The clock said "5:00." It was time to leave the lab. Elizabeth checked the tank before she left. She covered the steel bowl containing the dead worms and placed it in a storage refrigerator. She looked back at the tank. The Penis Fish -- it wasn't a worm, so she didn't know what else to call it -- sat on the sand, not moving, but pulsing, with one end pressed against the glass. It was the end with the hole, and she saw a white drop emerge from it. The pulse moved through the Penis Fish's body, like a wave.

She felt uneasy, but she didn't know why. She would dissect and observe more of the worms the next day, and if the findings were consistent with what she'd found so far, she would call Mark and others.

This is something completely new, she thought. Where did it come from?

Elizabeth thought about the storm that had hit the California coast the day before. The clouds had been so dense that the sky had gone almost black, even in the middle of the day. A frightening bout of lightning accompanied the storm, a rarity for the California coast. The wind had howled, in gusts exceeding 60 miles per hour. And then the storm disappeared, as fast as it had begun.

She turned away from the tank, but she felt a strong sense of reluctance. She felt the presence of the Penis Fish in the tank behind her.

Finally, she left the lab and drove home.

Later, in the bungalow-style house she had owned the last two years, she prepared a salad for dinner. She watched a movie on the television, but she could not enjoy it. She kept thinking about the Penis Fish. She could not get it out of her mind.

She looked at her hand, where its cream had splashed her. Her skin felt warm and pleasant, still, where it had touched her. And her skin shone there, too. It looked less worn and more youthful than the skin that had gone untouched.

Elizabeth felt something else, as well. Her cold was gone. Her nose had dried up and her throat was no longer sore.

In bed, hours later, Elizabeth tossed and turned. It took a long time to fall asleep. When she did, she dreamed that she was walking on the beach again, as she had early that day. It wasn't like a dream at all. She was conscious that she was in a dream, but she felt fully awake. The scene around her was saturated in sharp colors and smells.

There was only one Penis Fish on the beach -- her Penis Fish. It wriggled on the sand ten feet away, gesturing to her.

And she was naked. She wore nothing at all.

When she woke up, she could remember no more of the dream. She threw the covers back. Usually, it took Elizabeth a while to rouse herself from bed. But not this time. She bounded from her bed. She felt healthy and strong. She was eager to get to work.

When she arrived at the lab, Mark already was there. Mark was five years older than she was. He was handsome in a pleasant, nondescript way, with darkish blond hair. In addition to working together as colleagues in the lab, they had been seeing each other romantically the last seven months. Mark was an attentive lover and a kind boyfriend. They had discussed moving in together, but Elizabeth wasn't sure it was a good idea. She liked Mark -- liked him a lot -- but she wasn't sure she loved him.

"Hey, Beth," he said, greeting her.

"Good morning, Mark."

"Did you get the worm samples from the beach yesterday?"

"I did," she said.

"I'd like to see them."

"Sure," she said. But a voice inside her said "No!" She shook her head. She didn't know why she would think that.

When they reached the tank, the worms were not in sight. They must have buried themselves in the sand.

"Looks like they're shy. I assume you made some observations. See anything interesting?"

"Nothing I haven't seen before." She lied.

Why did I do that? she asked herself.

"Beth?"

She shook her head.

"What?"

"Are you OK? You look like you're somewhere else."

I am somewhere else, she thought. But I don't know where.

"I'm fine. Still waking up, I guess."

"You were never much of an early riser," he said, smiling. "I'll look at the worms in a minute. Jose wanted me to check out some of the new starfish he acquired, so I'll do that first."

His phone rang. He talked for a few minutes, the tone of his voice suggesting exasperation.

"That was the Dean," he said, putting his phone down. "He wants to see me. Faculty shit. Listen, I may not get back to the lab before I must leave this afternoon for the conference in Portland. You'll be in charge of the lab for a few days while I'm gone. You OK with that? Should be pretty quiet. Most of the students are studying for exams. Jose is in LA."

"It won't be any problem," she said. She felt a sudden sense of relief knowing she would be alone in the lab.

Alone with the Penis Fish. Her Penis Fish.

After Mark left, Elizabeth performed the daily inspection, checking the various specimens in the lab and entering notes. She checked her emails inbox and exchanged texts and several emails with some of the graduate students who were working with her.

Then she returned to the glass tank. The Penis Fish was visible again, lying on top of the sand, its tip knocking lightly against the glass wall.

She picked it up, out of the tank, and she was struck immediately by its warmth. She felt the pleasant pulsing along its length under her fingers. For a moment, she felt light-headed, so she sat down in a chair. She stared at the strange thing in her hand.

The tip with the hole stood straight up, away from the grip of her fingers. A tiny white bead of fluid lay over the hole.

Then the Penis Fish bent toward her. More of the white fluid bubbled out of the tip. It collected in a drop that grew. Without thinking about what she was doing, Elizabeth scooped up the drop with two fingers so it wouldn't fall to the floor. She brought her fingers to her mouth.

The taste was a mild mixture of tart and sweet, like the taste of crème fraiche.

The hole at the Penis Fish tip opened and more fluid came out. This time she brought the thing to her mouth. She stuck out her tongue and ran in along the underside of the Penis Fish tip and over the hole. Fluid squirted from the hole into her mouth.

It was delicious, and she wanted more. She inserted the entire tip of the Penis Fish into her mouth and closed her lips over it. She felt the warmth and tasted the delicious tart sweetness of more fluid flowing into her mouth. She swirled her tongue around it and sucked on the tip.

Mmmmm, she thought. It was so good.

Elizabeth began moving the Penis Fish in a rhythm back and forth, in and out of her mouth.

I'm fucking my mouth with it, she thought. My Penis Fish is fucking my mouth.

She felt the odd but pleasant pulsing of the thing in her mouth, vibrating against her swirling tongue. For a few seconds she let herself get lost in the sensation. Everything around her faded. All she could think about was the pulsing Penis Fish in her eager mouth.

Then her senses came to her. She pulled the Penis Fish out of her mouth and held it, staring at it, a foot from her face.

It wiggled violently and unexpectedly, and her hand let go of it. It fell.

"No!" she cried, fearful it would be hurt. But it fell into her lap, on her bare legs, just past the end of the hem of her blue skirt.

Her legs parted at the strange touch of the Penis Fish against her bare skin, and the Penis Fish dropped down, between her legs, on the chair. It wasted no time, wriggling under her skirt.

Elizabeth, fascinated, pulled her skirt up to see what it was doing. It wriggled forward, toward the junction of her legs, until its tip contacted the thin white cotton gusset of her panties. It pressed forward. Elizabeth let out a sharp breath of air. The Penis Fish seemed to know what it was doing. It pressed down directly over her clitoris, and the tip rotated directly over it.

"Ohhh," she said.

This was crazy, she thought. She had to stop this. She grabbed the Penis Fish from between her thighs and held it as tightly as she could. It wriggled violently. She stood up, but before she could put it back in the tank it slipped out of her hand again and fell to the surface of a sturdy metal table.

Her pussy still tingled. The feel of the Penis Fish against her sex had been amazing. Bizarre, dirty, profane, yes -- but amazing.

What was happening to her? She wondered.

She approached the table to grab the Penis Fish again, but she stopped. Something was happening to it. The tip pointed up, to the ceiling, white fluid trickling from its hole. But it was the other end that drew her interest. Tendrils emerged from all around its circumference. She could not tell where they came from. The end of each tendril flared out, like a small, webby hand. The little hands slapped against the metal table, fastening the Penis Fish to its surface. With one end bound firmly to the table, the Penis Fish righted itself, until the end with the hole stood up and straight out from the table.

Elizabeth, fascinated, drew closer. The Penis fish pulsed again, the waves of the pulse starting at its base, against the table surface, and continuing through its length to the tip. The Penis Fish grew, away from the table, until it stood hard and straight and pointed at the ceiling. A frosty white film coated the tip, which bulged and formed itself into a familiar shape. More than ever before, the thing looked very nearly like a large, erect male penis, standing up straight from the table.

She felt the tingle between her legs again. Her hand went down, touching and even rubbing herself. A powerful need emanated from her clit, spreading over her whole body. She felt a keen need for relief, but she didn't know what to do.

She was mesmerized by the Penis Fish pulsing and moving in front of her on the table.

She looked up at the clock on the wall. It said 12:00 p.m. She knew from checking the daily calendar that no one else was at the lab and that no one was likely to come until 4 pm., when Gretchen, a grad student, was due to come in and take some notes on the crab tank for a report that was due in a week. Until then, Elizabeth would have the lab to herself.

She barely knew what she was doing. The need in her was so strong. It blocked out everything else.

She pulled her skirt up and pulled her white panties down, over her thighs, down her calves, until they pooled at her feet. She stepped out of them. Then she unzipped her skirt at the back and took it off as well. She was naked from the waist down now, her well-trimmed pussy facing the thick pulsing Penis Fish.

Elizabeth jumped up on the table. It was cool to the touch. Cool and hard. Her eyes focused only on the Penis Fish, standing straight up from the table but inclined at its head slightly in her direction. It remained inclined toward her as she maneuvered around it. At last she sat with her bare knees against the table to either side of it. She scooted forward. When her body was close the Penis Fish moved suddenly and its tip hit the pink pebble of her exposed clit.

"Ohhh," she said.

It wasn't enough. She needed to bare herself completely to the Penis Fish. She pulled her shirt over her head and unsnapped her bra and tossed it to the floor. Now she sat completely naked on the table with the Penis Fish caressing her clitoris and vulva with its bulbous pink head.

She lifted off the table a few inches and grabbed the Penis Fish along its length. She pulled the tip toward her, until it touched the slit of her vulva. She pushed forward and watched as it parted her labia, which partly engulfed it. Then she moved up and down, until the thick pink strange tube tip ran up and down her excited pussy. She saw the Penis Fish tip glisten with moisture from inside her.

Soon that wasn't enough, so she aimed the Penis Fish tip at her pussy and lowered herself onto it. It was not easy. The Penis Fish was thicker and longer than any male cock that had been inside her. Mark's penis, for instance, was a fraction over five inches, and skinny like a little breakfast sausage.

The Penis Fish was much bigger. Its girth, rather than its length, presented the first problem. The thick head passed beyond her labia easily enough, but it met resistance when it sought to go further inside her. Elizabeth breathed heavily. It was difficult to relax with her body stretched nude on a metal table over the thing, but she paused and tried. She lowered herself onto it, slowly, rising and falling over the pink shaft and lowering herself just a bit more on every third fall.