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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 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.
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.
William Wordsworth's 1802 poem "Resolution and Independence" describes one of the last of the leech-gatherers, people who travelled Britain catching leeches from the wild, and causing a sharp decline in their abundance, though they remain numerous in Romney Marsh. By 1863, British hospitals had switched to imported leeches, some seven million ...
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.
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.
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.
Macrobdella is a genus of leeches native to freshwater ecosystems of North America, especially Canada, Mexico, and the United States. [2] The genus is commonly referred to as North American medicinal leeches .