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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 ...
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 ...
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.
The forceps are used to grip the leech’s mucus-covered body tightly and attempt the move it laterally to minimize injury, but if the membranes are heavily damaged or the leech is too strongly attached a sodium chloride solution can be used to irrigate the nose in order to weaken or break the leech’s hold.
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 ...
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.
Glossiphoniid leeches exhibit remarkable parental care, the most highly developed one among the known annelids. They produce a membranous bag to hold the eggs, which is carried on the underside. The young attach to the parent's belly after hatching and are thus ferried to their first meal. [6] Certain Glossiphoniidae parasitize amphibian species.
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.