Leech
A leech, plural leeches, is a kind of worm that live in wet areas. Some only live in water, but some, called terrestrial leeches, can live on land. Terrestrial leeches can only live in wet and humid areas.[1] Some leeches that live in water can swim.[2] Leeches have 34 connected parts, called segments, that make up the body.[2] Some leeches are predators, and eat other small animals, called invertebrates. Other leeches drink the blood of bigger animals, including humans.[3]
| Leech | |
|---|---|
| |
| Hirudo medicinalis sucking blood | |
| |
| Helobdella sp. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Unrecognized taxon (fix): | Hirudinea |
| Infraclasses | |
Leech Media
Haemadipsa zeylanica, a terrestrial leech
Placobdelloides siamensis, a parasite of turtles in Thailand. The ventral face (right) shows many young leeches.
Polychaete worm Nereis pelagica
மண்புழு
Lumbriculidae unknown species (cropped)
Signal crayfish branchiobdellid crop 2
Acanthobdella 001 (detail)
ErpobdellaOctoculata wwalas 01
European medical leech (Hirudo medicinalis L., 1758)
Parasite180056-fig5A Placobdelloides siamensis (Glossiphoniidae)
This video is of a leech climbing the external face of the door of the public toilet at Lake Leake in Tasmania. The video was taken on a Nokia 6120 classic mobile phone and converted from MP4 format to OGG format using FFmpeg.
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References
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Wikispecies has information on: Hirudinea. |
- ↑ Drinkwater, Rosie; Williamson, Joseph; Swinfield, Tom; Deere, Nicolas J.; Struebig, Matthew J.; Clare, Elizabeth L.; Coomes, David; Rossiter, Stephen J. (2019). "Occurrence of blood‐feeding terrestrial leeches (Haemadipsidae) in a degraded forest ecosystem and their potential as ecological indicators". Biotropica. 52 (2): 302–312. doi:10.1111/btp.12686. ISSN 0006-3606.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Leech | The Canadian Encyclopedia". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
- ↑ "Leech Therapeutic Applications". Indian J Pharm Sci. PMC 3757849. PMID 24019559.