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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 ]
Macrobdella decora, also known as the North American medicinal leech, is a species of freshwater leech found in much of eastern North America in freshwater habitats, although there is one disjunct population in northern Mexico. M. decora is a parasite of vertebrates, including humans, and an aquatic predator of eggs, larvae, and other ...
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.
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.
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 leech sometimes emerges from the water to hunt for earthworms. [4] [7] Like other leeches, Haemopis sanguisuga is a hermaphrodite. The testes mature first and the ovaries later in the organism's life. A pair of leeches will line up with the clitellar regions in contact, and sperm is passes by the one acting as male to the female gonopore.
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.
An extensive list of the freshwater fish found in California, including both native and introduced species. [1] Common Name Scientific Name Image Native Non-Native