|
Ozobranchidae
Turtle leeches are a genus, ''Ozobranchus'', of leeches (Hirudinea) that feed exclusively on the blood of turtles.Hutchins, Michael, ed., et al. ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia''. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 978-0-7876-5362-0. pp. 75-83. Only two species – ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' – are found in the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Little is known about these leeches due to difficulties in studying their sea turtle hosts.McGowin, Audrey E., et al. "Genetic barcoding of marine leeches (''Ozobranchus'' spp.) from Florida sea turtles and their divergence in host specificity." ''Molecular Ecology Resources'' 11.2 (2011): 271-278. Physiology Species of ''Ozobranchus'' spp. can be very small (down to a few millimeters in length), making them morphologically difficult to distinguish. ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' are the most anatomically documented. According to researchers from the University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhynchobdellida
Rhynchobdellida (from the Greek ''rhynchos'', mouth, and ''bdellein'', sucking), the jawless leeches or freshwater leeches, are an order of aquatic leeches. Despite the common name "freshwater leeches", species are found in both sea and fresh water. They are defined by the presence of a protrusible proboscis instead of jaws, and having colourless blood. They move by "inchworming" and are found worldwide. The order contains 110 species, divided into 41 genera and three families. Members of the order range widely in length, usually between 7 and 40 mm. They are hermaphrodite. The order is not monophyletic. Appearance and eating habits Instead of jaws and teeth, Rhynchobdellidae have protrusible proboscises, which they use to penetrate the host's skin. Mouths of Rhynchobdellidae species are small holes from which the proboscis can be protruded. The proboscis then sucks out the desired bodily fluid from the host: usually blood or coelomic fluid in the case of invertebrate vict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ozobranchus Branchiatus
''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' is a species of leech in the family Ozobranchidae. It is found in the Atlantic Ocean and is a permanent parasite of sea turtles, mostly the green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''). Description This leech is somewhat dorso-ventrally flattened and is about in length. The anterior (head) end is narrow and is armed with a sucker with which the leech holds onto the turtle host. This end also bears a mouth on the underside near the sucker and a pair of eyes on the fifth annulation. The trunk is much broader than the head and bears seven pairs of digitate gills. It terminates with a sucker, the diameter of which is as broad as the maximum width of the body. This leech is a creamy colour. Distribution ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' is found on the eastern coast of North America, its range extending from Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, southwards round the coast of Florida to the western Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. However, the leech can travel where ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ozobranchus Polybranchus
Turtle leeches are a genus, ''Ozobranchus'', of leeches (Hirudinea) that feed exclusively on the blood of turtles.Hutchins, Michael, ed., et al. ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia''. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 978-0-7876-5362-0. pp. 75-83. Only two species – ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' – are found in the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Little is known about these leeches due to difficulties in studying their sea turtle hosts.McGowin, Audrey E., et al. "Genetic barcoding of marine leeches (''Ozobranchus'' spp.) from Florida sea turtles and their divergence in host specificity." ''Molecular Ecology Resources'' 11.2 (2011): 271-278. Physiology Species of ''Ozobranchus'' spp. can be very small (down to a few millimeters in length), making them morphologically difficult to distinguish. ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' are the most anatomically documented. According to researchers from the University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hirudinea
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract. Both groups are hermaphrodites and have a clitellum, but leeches typically differ from the oligochaetes in having suckers at both ends and in having ring markings that do not correspond with their internal segmentation. The body is muscular and relatively solid, and the coelom, the spacious body cavity found in other annelids, is reduced to small channels. The majority of leeches live in freshwater habitats, while some species can be found in terrestrial or marine environments. The best-known species, such as the medicinal leech, ''Hirudo medicinalis'', are hematophagous, attaching themselves to a host with a sucker and feeding on blood, having first secreted the peptide hirudin to prevent the blood from c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ozobranchus Jantseanus
Turtle leeches are a genus, ''Ozobranchus'', of leeches (Hirudinea) that feed exclusively on the blood of turtles.Hutchins, Michael, ed., et al. ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia''. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 978-0-7876-5362-0. pp. 75-83. Only two species – ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' – are found in the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Little is known about these leeches due to difficulties in studying their sea turtle hosts.McGowin, Audrey E., et al. "Genetic barcoding of marine leeches (''Ozobranchus'' spp.) from Florida sea turtles and their divergence in host specificity." ''Molecular Ecology Resources'' 11.2 (2011): 271-278. Physiology Species of ''Ozobranchus'' spp. can be very small (down to a few millimeters in length), making them morphologically difficult to distinguish. ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' are the most anatomically documented. According to researchers from the University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ozobranchus Margoi
Turtle leeches are a genus, ''Ozobranchus'', of leeches (Hirudinea) that feed exclusively on the blood of turtles.Hutchins, Michael, ed., et al. ''Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia''. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 978-0-7876-5362-0. pp. 75-83. Only two species – ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' – are found in the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Little is known about these leeches due to difficulties in studying their sea turtle hosts.McGowin, Audrey E., et al. "Genetic barcoding of marine leeches (''Ozobranchus'' spp.) from Florida sea turtles and their divergence in host specificity." ''Molecular Ecology Resources'' 11.2 (2011): 271-278. Physiology Species of ''Ozobranchus'' spp. can be very small (down to a few millimeters in length), making them morphologically difficult to distinguish. ''Ozobranchus margoi'' and ''Ozobranchus branchiatus'' are the most anatomically documented. According to researchers from the University ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leech
Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract. Both groups are hermaphrodites and have a clitellum, but leeches typically differ from the oligochaetes in having suckers at both ends and in having ring markings that do not correspond with their internal segmentation. The body is muscular and relatively solid, and the coelom, the spacious body cavity found in other annelids, is reduced to small channels. The majority of leeches live in freshwater habitats, while some species can be found in terrestrial or marine environments. The best-known species, such as the medicinal leech, ''Hirudo medicinalis'', are hematophagous, attaching themselves to a host with a sucker and feeding on blood, having first secreted the peptide hirudin to prevent the blood from c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector (epidemiology)
In epidemiology, a disease vector is any living agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen to another living organism; agents regarded as vectors are organisms, such as parasites or microbes. The first major discovery of a disease vector came from Ronald Ross in 1897, who discovered the malaria pathogen when he dissected a mosquito. Arthropods Arthropods form a major group of pathogen vectors with mosquitoes, flies, sand flies, lice, fleas, ticks, and mites transmitting a huge number of pathogens. Many such vectors are haematophagous, which feed on blood at some or all stages of their lives. When the insects feed on blood, the pathogen enters the blood stream of the host. This can happen in different ways. The ''Anopheles'' mosquito, a vector for malaria, filariasis, and various arthropod-borne-viruses (arboviruses), inserts its delicate mouthpart under the skin and feeds on its host's blood. The parasites the mosquito carries are usually located in its salivary gla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long-beaked Common Dolphin
The common dolphin (''Delphinus delphis'') is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with that distinction belonging to the bottlenose dolphin due to its popular appearances in aquaria and the media. However, the common dolphin is often depicted in Ancient Greek and Roman art and culture, most notably in a mural painted by the Greek Minoan civilization. It is presently the only member of the genus ''Delphinus''. The common dolphin belongs to the subfamily Delphininae, making this dolphin closely related to the three different species of bottlenose dolphins, humpback dolphins, striped dolphins, spinner dolphins, clymene dolphin, spotted dolphins, fraser's dolphin and the tucuxi and guiana dolphin. The common dolphin was originally categorized into two different species (now thought to be ecotypes), the short-beaked common dolp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cloaca
In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds, and a few mammals ( monotremes, tenrecs, golden moles, and marsupial moles), have this orifice, from which they excrete both urine and feces; this is in contrast to most placental mammals, which have two or three separate orifices for evacuation. Excretory openings with analogous purpose in some invertebrates are also sometimes referred to as cloacae. Mating through the cloaca is known as cloacal copulation, commonly referred to as cloacal kiss. The cloacal region is also often associated with a secretory organ, the cloacal gland, which has been implicated in the scent-marking behavior of some reptiles, marsupials, amphibians, and monotremes. Etymology The word is from the Latin verb ''cluo'', "(I) cleanse", thus the noun ''cloaca'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epizootics
In epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek: ''epi-'' upon + ''zoon'' animal) is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locale (an "outbreak"), general (an "epizootic"), or widespread ("panzootic"). High population density is a major contributing factor to epizootics. Aquaculture is an industry sometimes plagued by disease because of the large number of fish confined to a small area. Defining an epizootic can be subjective; it is based upon the number of new cases in a given animal population, during a given period, and must be judged to be a rate that substantially exceeds what is expected based on recent experience (''i.e.'' a sharp elevation in the incidence rate). Because it is based on what is "expected" or thought normal, a few cases of a very rare disease (like a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy outbreak in a cervid population) might be classified as an "epizootic", while many ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turtle Fibropapillomatosis
Turtle fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a disease of sea turtles. The condition is characterized by benign but ultimately debilitating epithelial tumours on the surface of biological tissues. FP exists all over the world, but it is most prominent in warmer climates, affecting up to 50–70% of some populations. The causative agent of the disease is believed to be ''Chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5'' (ChHV-5), a species of virus in the genus ''Scutavirus'', subfamily ''Alphaherpesvirinae'', family ''Herpesviridae'', and order ''Herpesvirales''. Turtle leeches are suspected mechanical vectors, transmitting the disease to other individuals. The disease is thought to have a multifactorial cause, including a tumour-promoting phase that is possibly caused by biotoxins or contaminants. Description Fibropapillomatosis is a benign tumour disease of marine turtles, predominantly in the green sea turtle, ''Chelonia mydas'', but it has also been reported in the loggerhead sea turtle ''Caret ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
