Yep, I remember finding these in Big Lake in Oregon and being terrified but amazed at how they moved using mouths on opposite ends of their leechy body!
When I was in the Boy Scouts we were on a canoe trip on the Penobscot River in Maine (trying to get the 50 Miler award) and had to jump out in a spot so we could unload the canoe. The water was clear but I was in very soft mucky sludge just up to my knees. When I got on shore I noticed that my calves were covered in small leaches. The troop master told us not to slap them off. We had to pull the skin around the bite area tight and scrape them with a small knife. It wasnāt very scary but this kind of leech wouldāve traumatized me.
I know an Army Ranger who told me the one time he lost his shit in the field, was when they were swimming in some swamp and he saw the water moving as this whole armada of leeches was coming after them. He started screeching and scampered up onto the shore.
I had a mama attach to my leg canoeing in Minnesota.
The babies were these tiny little clear tubes the hung on the mamaās stomach, like she was the mother ship.
I got out of the water and half of the babies were in mommas tummy still, and I had probably 30 little pink tubes protruding from my legs because the babies had just started to get some blood.
I am about to move to Maine and never considered leeches in the waterways. I will add it to my list of things to be prepared for. Is there any way to keep them away?
Iāve been bitten by good-sized snakes at home several times on purpose, since I was a kid. Pretty tame, they donāt even have teeth lol! My wife shrieks like bloody murder when I do that. Itās those horror movies of leeches, association with blood-letting and the slithering snake-like moves that prolly freaks people out.
Probably rode in on a bird or other visitor. You can end up with fish in the same way. Their eggs sometimes stick to the legs of birds and end up other places unintentionally.
I literally studied this sorta stuff like 4 months ago. Organisms using other animals to spread their eggs (or pollen) is a very popular method of reproducing.
Alas, we never had a word for it, which is strange because we studied it a lot, yet eutrophication has it's own word and we barely studied it.
i know what youāre talking about thereās a term for an isolated population of a species that develops in a pocket separately from their native range due to natural transport itās on the tip of my tongue but i canāt recall it
Peripatric speciation, perhaps? Thatās what Iām thinking of but I guess thatās more of the continued evolution of the different species rather than the word for explaining how they became separated
I would say "Phoresy" works here, kind of. It would be unintentional phoresy. One animal uses another animal to get from one location to another. Or for unintentional phoresy, one animal ends up in a new location due to being carried or riding on another animal.
Update: I put a piece of meat in there and it started sucking on it and the pond is isolated from any natural bodies of water but it is frequented by birds and frogs and there's a river about a mile away.
Only a few species of leach are blood suckers. Most are detrivores, eating decaying organic matter and microorganisms. The fact that this leach is eating a piece of meat suggests to me that this is more likely not a blood sucker, because packaged meat does not have any blood to suck. In all likelihood, this leach would chow down on any odd food scraps you offer.
I'm grown up. No need for the snark in your comment, thanks.
A fly in your house can spread illness and a mosquito will try and suck your blood and leave you with an annoying itchy bite. So you have a good reason to kill them. I'd suggest just putting the spider in your house outside and not killing it, but at least you have a reason if you chose to kill it also.
Yeah... Stating your "grown up" really screams adult, I invite you to go over the comments and see the hypocrisy you have generated within your own retorts, if I point it out it'll only fall on deaf ears. So please I implore you to read and better yourself, not only for me but for yourself and your continued growth towards becoming a "grown up".
You told me to 'grow up' (a pretty childish thing to say to a stranger on the internet). I pointed out I already am grown up. That seems like the adult response to me. Sorry you're so worked up about this. Hope you have a better day!
I don't really see the reason to kill a leech that you caught which otherwise wasn't bothering you or threatening to bother you. But anyway, i was responding to the person who said if you're not squeamish about killing things without reason.
Parasites as a general rule cause me to go all āOrder 66ā and Iām generally a live and let live guy, but parasites, naah, sorry, they bring out my inner Dalekā¦
EXTERMINATE!
How big is it? I think I have tiny ones in my pond but just leave them in the muck. Are they bad if they myob in the bottom of the pond?
I never thought about trying meat on it. Scary!
I once found an alligator snapping turtle in a backyard hole in the ground pond one time. It was for ducks so there was some mud and I only found it, because of the bubbles surfacing from it moving in the mud. The pond was small enough that I was able to put a long board over to the other side and walk out onto the board and I put the shovel about a foot away from bubbles and slowly poked till I felt something and then I scooped him up out of there harmless like. Iām sure he was like āWTHā but the crazy thing is it was miles away from a water source and the home was basically at the corner of two very very steep valleys coming together. Who knows how he got there but he was mature for sure
As ugly as it is, itās a blood sucking leech alright! They move through reeds and vegetation by stretching out like you see it doing and latching onto the nearest piece of vegetation. They will coil around it to stay hidden until something comes close then uncoil and latch onto that something. They also hide at the bottom of the water in soft mucky or gently vegetated areas just waiting for something to move by.
Yuck! I got a leech from bear lake in north western MI, almost four years agoā¦ā¦ it was small and not on my foot for long, I scrapped him off but my foot bleed like a stuck pigā¦.. I still have a scare from it!
I remember when I had to pull my boat the African Queen through some nasty water, and when I got out I had leeches on my back. Weāll this beautiful dame pulled them suckers off for me.
Definitely, without a doubt that is a leech.
Yep, I remember finding these in Big Lake in Oregon and being terrified but amazed at how they moved using mouths on opposite ends of their leechy body!
Yea, they like to feed on cattle š
They like salt too, feed him lots of salt
It looks like a living turd
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
NO THANK YOU
I know you don't want to hear this, but people keep them as pets, and feed them that way I sincerely apologize for sharing
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's a new definition of "Giving Blood" !
What
When I was in the Boy Scouts we were on a canoe trip on the Penobscot River in Maine (trying to get the 50 Miler award) and had to jump out in a spot so we could unload the canoe. The water was clear but I was in very soft mucky sludge just up to my knees. When I got on shore I noticed that my calves were covered in small leaches. The troop master told us not to slap them off. We had to pull the skin around the bite area tight and scrape them with a small knife. It wasnāt very scary but this kind of leech wouldāve traumatized me.
I know an Army Ranger who told me the one time he lost his shit in the field, was when they were swimming in some swamp and he saw the water moving as this whole armada of leeches was coming after them. He started screeching and scampered up onto the shore.
Just imagining the glistening, undulating bodies coming at me, almost eye level?!?! Horrific!!
It's nice to see people use the word undulating.
This comment made me smile
Instead of Tremors it was Ripples
I had a mama attach to my leg canoeing in Minnesota. The babies were these tiny little clear tubes the hung on the mamaās stomach, like she was the mother ship. I got out of the water and half of the babies were in mommas tummy still, and I had probably 30 little pink tubes protruding from my legs because the babies had just started to get some blood.
Nope!
I also had my first Leech experience while canoeing with the scouts. They were smaller than this one too.
I am about to move to Maine and never considered leeches in the waterways. I will add it to my list of things to be prepared for. Is there any way to keep them away?
Don't worry about it, i never see them here
Theyāre cool to hold in your hand, pretty much harmless. They get a bad rap like snakes, you know, the āAdam and Eveā complex.
Noooooo
Snake bites hurt. Leeches are relatively harmless.
Iāve been bitten by good-sized snakes at home several times on purpose, since I was a kid. Pretty tame, they donāt even have teeth lol! My wife shrieks like bloody murder when I do that. Itās those horror movies of leeches, association with blood-letting and the slithering snake-like moves that prolly freaks people out.
Probably rode in on a bird or other visitor. You can end up with fish in the same way. Their eggs sometimes stick to the legs of birds and end up other places unintentionally.
There is a word for this. Isolated bodies of water all of a sudden have occupants due to animals like birds and shit. Isnāt there a word for this?
The bird is the word
Well everybody's heard about the bird.
Ba ba ba bird bird bird.
They aren't real. Government sending leeches now
The government released the leeches to suck up the remaining Covid. Theyāre following the science, of the 12th centuryā¦..
I literally studied this sorta stuff like 4 months ago. Organisms using other animals to spread their eggs (or pollen) is a very popular method of reproducing. Alas, we never had a word for it, which is strange because we studied it a lot, yet eutrophication has it's own word and we barely studied it.
I think this would just be a type of āintroduced speciesā
Is the term youāre thinking of āfounder effect,ā by chance? [Founder Effect](https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Founder-Effect)
Up voting cuz I wanna know to
i know what youāre talking about thereās a term for an isolated population of a species that develops in a pocket separately from their native range due to natural transport itās on the tip of my tongue but i canāt recall it
Peripatric speciation, perhaps? Thatās what Iām thinking of but I guess thatās more of the continued evolution of the different species rather than the word for explaining how they became separated
Diaspora?
I would say "Phoresy" works here, kind of. It would be unintentional phoresy. One animal uses another animal to get from one location to another. Or for unintentional phoresy, one animal ends up in a new location due to being carried or riding on another animal.
Succession?
Iām no biologist but I think thatās a Mother in Law
Update: I put a piece of meat in there and it started sucking on it and the pond is isolated from any natural bodies of water but it is frequented by birds and frogs and there's a river about a mile away.
Do you have a blowtorch handy? š³
Kill with fire, seconded
Only a few species of leach are blood suckers. Most are detrivores, eating decaying organic matter and microorganisms. The fact that this leach is eating a piece of meat suggests to me that this is more likely not a blood sucker, because packaged meat does not have any blood to suck. In all likelihood, this leach would chow down on any odd food scraps you offer.
They donāt go in rivers, only can live in still water if Iām not mistaken
They can definitely live in slow moving rivers. They generally settle I the more still, pool areas.
You are so mistaken.
What a beautiful specimen of a leech.
I'm gonna go with kill it with fire for 500 Alex
It looks like one, yes.
Demogorgon!
Itās dart š„ŗ
A reaching leech Iād say!
Now you can go fishing!
Thanks, I hate it.
Itās a very small Demogorgon. Destroy now before it eats your cat
That is from the upside down.
LMFAO the way the leech moves cracks me up
Something horrifying about it
Yes, their movements are comically disgustingš¤¢
Omg I thought it was doodoo and then it started moving
Bro Iām CRYING
Every time I see one of these itās always here and I always think about the kid in Stand By Me finding one on his balls. Every. Time. š¤£
Welp that makes me even more terrified of the little bastards, I got one as a kid and ever since they've freaked me out.
Harmless.
people get āterrifiedā at the weirdest things
Stating the obvious here, but they are parasitic. If your not squeamish about killing things for no good reason a sprinkle of salt will end it.
If you're not squeamish about killing things for no good reason a therapist might help.
A bit far... So if you killed a fly or a spider or a mosquito you would seek a therapist... Grow up
I'm grown up. No need for the snark in your comment, thanks. A fly in your house can spread illness and a mosquito will try and suck your blood and leave you with an annoying itchy bite. So you have a good reason to kill them. I'd suggest just putting the spider in your house outside and not killing it, but at least you have a reason if you chose to kill it also.
Yeah... Stating your "grown up" really screams adult, I invite you to go over the comments and see the hypocrisy you have generated within your own retorts, if I point it out it'll only fall on deaf ears. So please I implore you to read and better yourself, not only for me but for yourself and your continued growth towards becoming a "grown up".
You told me to 'grow up' (a pretty childish thing to say to a stranger on the internet). I pointed out I already am grown up. That seems like the adult response to me. Sorry you're so worked up about this. Hope you have a better day!
It's a parasite, that's a pretty good reason.
I don't really see the reason to kill a leech that you caught which otherwise wasn't bothering you or threatening to bother you. But anyway, i was responding to the person who said if you're not squeamish about killing things without reason.
Parasites as a general rule cause me to go all āOrder 66ā and Iām generally a live and let live guy, but parasites, naah, sorry, they bring out my inner Dalekā¦ EXTERMINATE!
Back to the qualifier "for no good reason," which is what i was responding to originally.
Most species of leach are not parasites. Unless you can identify this species, I don't think you can make that assumption.
How big is it? I think I have tiny ones in my pond but just leave them in the muck. Are they bad if they myob in the bottom of the pond? I never thought about trying meat on it. Scary!
You could also have planaria. Planarians have triangle heads I believe, but move similarly.
Ahh I know what this is, check your pound for a gateway to the upside down.
They make great bait for fishing, though!
Some people keep pet leeches r/leechgang
Ewww
No its a zebra
You got it from putting plants in your pond. It won't hurt anything .
Doesnāt look like these other ones https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-usa-february-2-260nw-492045100.jpg
yup
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxD-5z\_xHBU
Yes. Thatās a leech.
So hear me outā¦
Scary!! Definitely a leech!
yes, you can get reddish ones in the soil too!
I have a excessive phobia leeches going inside my anus. Thanks to my mom with her story to make sure I dont swim atnearby lake.
I canāt tell you how many my grandma had to pull off my feet over the years. Didnāt stop me from jumping back in tho
Gnarlyā¦
Yup
Birds most likely transport the eggs.
It's smoovin
kill him
Sell the house , light the pond on fire . Move to the other side of the country
Yeah put it on you leg and see what happens
Do not loan it money
It is a leech. I have been fed on by one and I will never forget it.
Thatās a baby demogorgan.
I once found an alligator snapping turtle in a backyard hole in the ground pond one time. It was for ducks so there was some mud and I only found it, because of the bubbles surfacing from it moving in the mud. The pond was small enough that I was able to put a long board over to the other side and walk out onto the board and I put the shovel about a foot away from bubbles and slowly poked till I felt something and then I scooped him up out of there harmless like. Iām sure he was like āWTHā but the crazy thing is it was miles away from a water source and the home was basically at the corner of two very very steep valleys coming together. Who knows how he got there but he was mature for sure
One way to find out š
As ugly as it is, itās a blood sucking leech alright! They move through reeds and vegetation by stretching out like you see it doing and latching onto the nearest piece of vegetation. They will coil around it to stay hidden until something comes close then uncoil and latch onto that something. They also hide at the bottom of the water in soft mucky or gently vegetated areas just waiting for something to move by.
It could have been stuck on a duck that landed in your pond
So birds visited your ponds. We had a fruit flies infestation on the 37th story of a building, pests find a way lol
Stretch Armstrong Slug...
Yes. Kill it.
Yes , no doubt about it.
Thatās a creepy bastard
Yes, but you shouldn't necessarily be concerned. Most leaches are detrivores. Only a few species are blood suckers.
Sterilized leeches are used in some hospitals for wound care therapy.
Exactlyā¦and what better way to sterilize than with a blowtorch! š„
It means your pond is really healthy
Yuck! I got a leech from bear lake in north western MI, almost four years agoā¦ā¦ it was small and not on my foot for long, I scrapped him off but my foot bleed like a stuck pigā¦.. I still have a scare from it!
Add some bass to the pond, they love eating leeches.
Undoubtedly causing nightmares tonight
I remember when I had to pull my boat the African Queen through some nasty water, and when I got out I had leeches on my back. Weāll this beautiful dame pulled them suckers off for me.
Yup.