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Leeches are hermaphrodites, and mating may take place on or off the fish host, but in either case, the cocoon, usually containing a single egg, is deposited elsewhere, usually stuck to a stone or piece of vegetation, or even to the carapace of a crustacean. When the egg hatches, the juvenile leech has about a week to find a suitable fish host ...
Blood-sucking leeches use their anterior suckers to connect to hosts for feeding. Once attached, they use a combination of mucus and suction to stay in place while they inject hirudin into the hosts' blood. In general, blood-feeding leeches are non host-specific, and do little harm to their host, dropping off after consuming a blood meal. Some ...
These leeches have five pairs of eyes, with the last two separated by two eyeless segments. The family is monotypic , containing only the subfamily Haemadipsinae , though as the family can apparently be divided into two or three distinct lineages, at least one of the proposed splits , while not a distinct family, might be a valid subfamily.
Aquatic leeches have been found on sites such as the nose, mouth, pharynx, larynx, conjunctiva, trachea, bronchi, esophagus, vagina, bladder, rectum, and the creases of the eyes, [4] Although most instances were found in the nasopharynx, lower airways, or upper esophagus. Humans become victims from bathing or drinking unfiltered water in less ...
Like other leeches, H. verbana has anterior and posterior suckers that allow it to attach to a range of substrates in both air and water. It can even attach to porous, air-permeable substrates. In the wild, this ability may be relevant for attaching to porous rocks or the furry skin of host animals.
Haementeria ghilianii is a species of leech in the Glossiphoniidae family, comprising freshwater proboscis-bearing leeches. Colloquially, they are known as the Amazon giant leech . Following its initial description in 1849, additional details were provided based on specimens from French Guiana in 1899, after which the species was largely ...
The Hirudiniformes are one of the currently-accepted suborders of the proboscisless leeches (Arhynchobdellida).Their best-known member is the European medical leech, Hirudo medicinalis, and indeed most of the blood-sucking "worms" as which leeches are generally perceived belong to this group.
Tyrannobdella is a monotypic genus of leech, of family Praobdellidae, found in South America in the upper reaches of the Amazon. This newly found genus of leech takes sustenance from the mucous membranes of the mammalian upper respiratory tract, and is known to feed upon humans.