Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The Glossiphoniidae, the freshwater jawless leeches, [citation needed] or leaf leeches (due to their shape) [11] are freshwater leeches, flattened, and with a poorly defined anterior sucker. [2] The family Glossiphoniidae contains one of the world's largest species of leech, the giant Amazon leech , which can grow up to 45 cm in length. [ 12 ]
Erpobdella obscura is a freshwater ribbon leech common in North America. It is a relatively large leech and is commonly used as bait by anglers for walleye and other sport fish. In Minnesota , live bait dealers annually harvest over 45,000 kg of bait-leeches, raising concerns of over-harvest.
The species of this genus are found in Europe and Northern America. [1] The World Register of Marine Species accepts one species within Cystobranchus. [2] Cystobranchus is also known as a leech, and it is a freshwater leech, usually found in revisers, streams, lakes, and ponds across North America.
Unlike many leeches which are blood-suckers, E. punctata is a predator and scavenger. [3] Among the invertebrates it eats are copepods, midges, earthworms and amphipods.This leech has been observed adhering to a salamander, thus being transported to a new location as well as benefiting from any food scraps discarded by the salamander.
Macrobdella decora is a medium-sized leech, growing between 5 and 8.5 cm (2.0 and 3.3 in) long, and weighing from 1.48 to 3.69 grams (0.052 to 0.130 oz). [1]: 67 [2]: 155 It has a dark green, brown or olive-green back with a line of 20 or so small orange or red dots down the middle, and two corresponding sets of black dots on its sides.
Haemadipsa zeylanica, a terrestrial leech Placobdelloides siamensis, a parasite of turtles in Thailand.The ventral face (right) shows many young leeches. [3]Some 680 species of leech have been described, of which around 100 are marine, 480 freshwater and the remainder terrestrial.
Placobdella parasitica is a species of leech found in North America. [2] Leeches are habitual ectoparasites of vertebrates in aquatic environments. Placobdella parasitica is differentiated from other members of the genus Placobdella by its smooth dorsal surface, simple to complicated pigmentation, and abdomen with 8 to 12 stripes.
Some of the leeches in this family have external gills, outgrowths of the body wall projecting laterally, the only group of leeches to exchange gases in this way. [ 3 ] Worldwide, around 60 genera and 100 species of leeches are in this family, all parasitic on the blood of marine, estuarine, and freshwater fishes.