I read this short story or short novel over 20 years ago.
I think the name "Harlequin" was somewhere in the title, but not sure.
Story is about a man who goes to another planet to learn about the sentient species there. I remember a scene where he is eating a meal with them and one pulls out a living thing called "kiritsa"(sp?) from its body and consumed it. One egg/youngster of the species becomes harlequin to act as an ambassador to the human.
This is The Eye of the Queen (1982) by Phillip Mann.
The character Harlequin is a Pe-Ellian, who is considered problematic by his people, but has a deep relationship with the main human character, Marius Thorndyke, who is a kind of xeno-anthropologist specializing in first contact.
The karitsa you recall, are, if I recall correctly, something like unfertilized gametes that sometimes serve as snacks (which foreshadows the novel's startling conclusion).
The book has been published with many different kinds of cover art, some of which are here:
