Hirudo medicinalis
Leeches are also segmented worms that share similarities and differences with earthworms. They have a similarity because both leeches and earthworms are hermaphrodites meaning they have both male and female reproductive organs. They are different because although the two species are segmented worms, leeches segments on the outside do not match the segments in the organs. Leeches are mainly blood suckers, but there are less then two hundred of the known 700 species of leeches that aren't blood-sucking parasites. Leeches were commonly known way back when for medicinal purposes.
Leeches have one of the slowest moving digestive systems that are known. Some say that Medicinal leeches can store so much blood in their crop that they only need too feed twice a year! Leeches are a type of Annelid that eats off of other animals. The eat their "food" by inserting their claws before the mouth into the skin of the host. Then the blood is taken in/sucked through the mouth. The blood then enters the mouth of the leech and passes through and into the esophagus. The blood then travels to the pharynx, where it slips right through to the crop. The crop simply acts as a storage place for the blood. One animal can hold up to five times its body mass of blood in the crop. When this blood is being stored, leeches create a anticoagulant that stops the blood from clotting. When the blood moves through to the gizzard, it is smoothed out even more and whatever the leech needs for survival, it takes from those cells. The waste then moves through the intestinum and out through the Anus when it is not needed inside the animal anymore.
Leeches have one of the slowest moving digestive systems that are known. Some say that Medicinal leeches can store so much blood in their crop that they only need too feed twice a year! Leeches are a type of Annelid that eats off of other animals. The eat their "food" by inserting their claws before the mouth into the skin of the host. Then the blood is taken in/sucked through the mouth. The blood then enters the mouth of the leech and passes through and into the esophagus. The blood then travels to the pharynx, where it slips right through to the crop. The crop simply acts as a storage place for the blood. One animal can hold up to five times its body mass of blood in the crop. When this blood is being stored, leeches create a anticoagulant that stops the blood from clotting. When the blood moves through to the gizzard, it is smoothed out even more and whatever the leech needs for survival, it takes from those cells. The waste then moves through the intestinum and out through the Anus when it is not needed inside the animal anymore.