“Found this in my laksa. Tiny crab?” — Netizen finds pea crab parasite usually found in cockles

After a netizen shared a photo of what looks like a tiny crab in a laksa dish, many other online users responded and pointed out what it is.

“Found this in my laksa,” wrote an online user on Tuesday (Nov 22). The individual posted a photo of what appears to be a tiny crab drenched in laksa soup in an online Singapore news forum. In response to the post, many online users shared information about what the tiny creature actually is. Though one pointed out that it looks like tiny lettuce, many others said that it is a pea crab.

“It’s a pea crab. It’s a parasite that lives in cockles. Don’t worry, they can’t make it into your heart,” wrote one user, to which the writer of the post replied, “My heart is empty to begin with.”

Another wrote, “During times of shrinkflation and rising food prices, did it warm the cockles of your heart to find extra crab in your laksa at no cost?” This comment made reference to an expression made famous by Workers’ Party (WP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Anchorvale division of Sengkang GRC.

Back in 2020, Mr Lim used the phrase “warms the cockles of my heart,” which went viral. In an August 2020 article, The Independent Singapore reported that in a light video, Mr Lim said he had been banned from using the word cockles.

“Well, obviously char kway teow is characterised a lot by the presence of certain kinds of shellfish. I’ve been banned from using a particular phrase in my expressions,” he said.