A medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) extended across pale skin while feeding.

Creator: GlebK

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported

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Species record

Medicinal Leech

Hirudo medicinalis

Explore the Medicinal Leech (Hirudo medicinalis) species record in The Ark Is Earth, including classification, habitat, distribution, conservation information, and sources.

Summary

The medicinal leech is a freshwater annelid recorded from parts of western and southern Europe east to the Ural Mountains and around the northeastern Mediterranean. It lives in shallow ponds with muddy bottoms and reed margins, where it feeds on vertebrate blood. It lays egg cocoons in damp ground just above the waterline.

Classification in this archive

  1. Kingdom: Animals
  2. Phylum: Segmented worms
  3. Class: Earthworms and leeches
  4. Order: Hirudinida
  5. Family: Hirudinidae
  6. Genus: Hirudo

Habitat and distribution

Selected documented locations — not a complete species range.

Habitat
freshwater ponds, shallow marshes, muddy-bottomed water, reed-fringed margins, damp soil beside water
Selected regions
Asia, Europe

Conservation status

Conservation status not recorded.

Did you know?

  • Medicinal leeches lay egg cocoons in damp soil beside the water, rather than underwater.

More images

1816 engraved illustration of a medicinal leech showing internal anatomy.

An anatomical plate of Hirudo medicinalis published in 1816; this is an illustration, not a photograph.

Creator: Patrick Syme (1774–1845)

Licence: Public Domain

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Sources and attribution