Types of Leeches
How to Remove Leeches. Leeches live in moist undergrowth and grasses as well as freshwater areas. They attach themselves to warm-blooded animals, including humans, and can expand to 10 times their normal size as the fill themselves up on...
Marine leeches feed on other aquatic life forms that share the murky ocean depths. Leeches can be found feeding in just about all the world's oceans. Notostomum laeve is the first recorded marine leech species found in North America. It lives in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean.
Leeches crawl like caterpillars, "inch-worming" across the host's body surface. Feeding: Leeches feed by making a series of small cuts on the skin and then ingesting the blood. An anticoagulant released by the leech prevents the blood from clotting. To further aid feeding, leeches inject histamine into the host's blood vessels.
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worm-like animals that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, the earthworms, and like them have soft, muscular, segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract.