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The miracidium is the second stage in the life cycle of trematodes. When trematode eggs are laid and come into contact with fresh water, they hatch and release ...
The hatchling is called a miracidium, a free-swimming, ciliated larva. Miracidia will then grow and develop within the intermediate host into a sac-like structure known as a sporocyst or into rediae, either of which may give rise to free-swimming, motile cercariae larvae.
In stagnant freshwater, the eggs hatch within 15 minutes into the larvae called miracidia. Each miracidium is either male or female. [25] Miracidia are covered with hair-like cilia with which actively swims searching for snails. Unless they infect a snail within 24–28 hours, they run out of energy reserves and die.
The miracidium (from the Greek word μειράκιον, meirakion, meaning youth) is pear-shaped, and gradually elongates as it ages. It measures about 136 μm long and 55 μm wide. The body is covered by anucleate epidermal plates separated by epidermal ridges.
Once inside of the snail body, the embryonic membrane is dissolved by the snail's digestive enzymes, so the miracidium hatches from the egg. The ciliated miracidium can move about, penetrating the intestine, and enters the haemocoel and digestive gland. Here, it undergoes metamorphosis into a sporocyst. The sporocyst gives rise to small larvae ...
The miracidium uses cilia to follow chemical and physical cues thought to increase its chances of finding the first intermediate host in its life cycle, a freshwater snail. After infecting a snail, it develops into a mother sporocyst , which in turn undergoes asexual reproduction , yielding large numbers of daughter sporocysts, which asexually ...
Alternatively, eggs may hatch in water to release an actively swimming, ciliated larva, the miracidium, which must locate and penetrate the body wall of the snail host. After post-ingestion hatching or penetration of the snail, the miracidium metamorphoses into a simple, sac-like mother sporocyst.
Fasciola hepatica, also known as the common liver fluke or sheep liver fluke, is a parasitic trematode (fluke or flatworm, a type of helminth) of the class Trematoda, phylum Platyhelminthes.