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What do leeches feed on?

Updated: 8/11/2023
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12y ago

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Contrary to popular belief, not all of them are bloodsuckers. In fact, many of them are sit-and-wait predators and feed on a variety of different invertebrates such as insects (gnats, mosquito larvae, water bugs), oligochaetes (both aquatic blackworms and their terrestrial cousins, the earthworms), amphipods (side swimmers), and lots of different kinds of molluscs including pond snails and freshwater clams. These predacious leeches are either engulfers (ie. they swallow their prey whole) or they are equipped with a protrusible proboscis which resembles a hypodermic needle. When not in use, the proboscis is retracted into the mouth, but when a leech has located a prey item, the proboscis pops out of the mouth and the leech uses it to spear its prey and then, once the prey is subdued, the leech uses the hollow proboscis like a soda straw and sucks up the juices of its prey.

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14y ago
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10y ago

Leeches eat small insects and molluscs some can even eat small fish

Leeches are eaten by fish... in fact they are used as fishing bait especially for catfish and salmon

Leeches can also drink blood. some are even used in medicine to drink bad blood or eat dead skin.

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11y ago

Most people think of leeches as nasty bloodsucking creatures with little or no

worth, and no interesting behaviors, let alone any parenting skills, but this

popular perception of them is way off the mark. A common misconception

about leeches is that there is only one kind of leech. In fact, there are between

700 and 1000 species of leeches worldwide and they can be found in a variety

of different habitats including marine, estuarine, moist terrestrial (particularly

in Australia and Southeast Asia) and freshwater ecosystems.

What do leeches eat?

Contrary to popular belief, not all of them are bloodsuckers. In fact, many of

them are sit-and-wait predators and feed on a variety of different invertebrates

such as insects (gnats, mosquito larvae, water bugs), oligochaetes (both

aquatic blackworms and their terrestrial cousins, the earthworms), amphipods

(side swimmers), and lots of different kinds of molluscs including pond snails

and freshwater clams. These predacious leeches are either engulfers (ie. they

swallow their prey whole) or they are equipped with a protrusible proboscis

which resembles a hypodermic needle. When not in use, the proboscis is

retracted into the mouth, but when a leech has located a prey item, the

proboscis pops out of the mouth and the leech uses it to spear its prey and

then, once the prey is subdued, the leech uses the hollow proboscis like a soda

straw and sucks up the juices of its prey.

Read more: What_type_of_foods_do_leeches_eat

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12y ago

Blood and dead flesh from a bloody rotten carecus

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Do leeches feed on water skippers?

It's possible.


Do leeches feed only on human blood?

true


Do leeches eat leeches?

Leeches are from the subclass Hirudinea and a kind of segmented worm but differ in significant ways. Leeches eat a prey on small invertebrates, and they use their interior suckers to feed on their host.


How can leeches be useful in medicine?

since leeches feed by sucking the blood out of their hosts.......they can be used in quantity to suck impurities or toxins out


How fast are leeches?

Leeches are quite fast. They swim fast when they notice vibration in the water so they can attach themselves to a host and feed.


Leeches have a diet made up entirely of carrion true or false?

It is false that leeches have a diet made up entirely of carrion. Leeches attach to a host and suck there blood that is how they live.


Why do medicinal leeches not feed on mammals?

Humans are mammals. How could they be used in medicine on humans, if they won't feed on mammals.


Lampreys feeding method is similar to which invertebrate?

leeches feed like the lamphrey.


Why does a tick suck blood from leeches?

If leeches are moist, water loving critters, then no self-respecting tick would get near it to feed. Ticks prefer mammals or reptiles.


Do all leeches eat blood?

No, leeches stand little chance of catching the very quick mosquito larvae. Leeches tend to feed on fish, often attaching themselves to the fish right before they are swallowed and then moving to the gills where they suck the fish's blood.


Is a leech a mollusk?

No leeches are definitely not Mammals. Leeches are annelids comprising the subclass Hirudinea. There are fresh water, terrestrial, and marine leeches. Like the Oligochaeta, they share the presence of a clitellum. Like earthworms, leeches are hermaphrodites. Some, but not all leeches feed on blood. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeches


What is ment by animation?

Sanguivorous animals are animals that feed on blood. Examples are bats, leeches and certain insects, such as the mosquito.