![Taenia solium tapeworm scolex with its four suckers and two rows of hooks 5262 lores](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Taenia_solium_tapeworm_scolex_with_its_four_suckers_and_two_rows_of_hooks_5262_lores.jpg)
A sucker in
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
refers to a specialised attachment organ of an animal. It acts as an adhesion device in
parasitic worm
Parasitic worms, also known as helminths, are large Parasitism#Basic concepts, macroparasites; adults can generally be seen with the naked eye. Many are intestinal worms that are soil-transmitted helminth, soil-transmitted and intestinal parasit ...
s, several
flatworm
The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegment ...
s,
cephalopods
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, an ...
, certain
fishes
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
,
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s, and
bats
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...
. It is a
muscular
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...
structure for
suction
Suction is the colloquial term to describe the air pressure differential between areas.
Removing air from a space results in a pressure differential. Suction pressure is therefore limited by external air pressure. Even a perfect vacuum cannot ...
on a
host
A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it.
Host may also refer to:
Places
* Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County
People
*Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman
* Michel Host ...
or substrate. In parasitic
annelid
The annelids (Annelida , from Latin ', "little ring"), also known as the segmented worms, are a large phylum, with over 22,000 extant species including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to various ecol ...
s,
flatworms
The flatworms, flat worms, Platyhelminthes, or platyhelminths (from the Greek πλατύ, ''platy'', meaning "flat" and ἕλμινς (root: ἑλμινθ-), ''helminth-'', meaning "worm") are a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegment ...
and
roundworms
The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhabiting a broa ...
, suckers are the organs of attachment to the host tissues. In
tapeworms
Cestoda is a class of parasitic worms in the flatworm phylum (Platyhelminthes). Most of the species—and the best-known—are those in the subclass Eucestoda; they are ribbon-like worms as adults, known as tapeworms. Their bodies consist of man ...
and
flukes, they are a
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...
adaptation for attachment on the internal tissues of the host, such as intestines and blood vessels.
In roundworms and flatworms they serve as attachment between individuals particularly during
mating
In biology, mating is the pairing of either opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for the purposes of sexual reproduction. ''Fertilization'' is the fusion of two gametes. ''Copulation'' is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproduc ...
. In annelids, a sucker can be both a functional mouth and a
locomotory organ
Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying, hopping, soaring and gliding. Th ...
.
The structure and number of suckers are often used as basic
taxonomic diagnosis between different species, since they are unique in each species. In tapeworms there are two distinct classes of suckers, namely "bothridia" for true suckers, and "
bothria" for false suckers. In
digeneal flukes there are usually an oral sucker at the mouth and a ventral sucker (or
acetabulum
The acetabulum (), also called the cotyloid cavity, is a concave surface of the pelvis. The head of the femur meets with the pelvis at the acetabulum, forming the hip joint.
Structure
There are three bones of the ''os coxae'' (hip bone) that c ...
) posterior to the mouth. Roundworms have their sucker just in front of the anus; hence it is often called a pre-anal sucker.
Among
chordates
A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These five ...
, some fishes and
mammals
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
have suckers, which are used as a
holdfast to substrata. Among fishes some members of the order
Perciformes
Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the most numerous order of vertebrates, containing about 41% of all bony fish. Perciformes means ...
have modified
fin
A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...
s that form a sucker. Some
bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...
s, the
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and the
Western sucker-footed bat
The western sucker-footed bat (''Myzopoda schliemanni'') is a bat endemic to Madagascar. Little is known about its habits, but they are assumed to be similar to those of the Madagascar sucker-footed bat.Garbutt, Nick; ''Mammals of Madagascar''; Y ...
have unusual suckers on their limbs that are useful during
roosting
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
. Some
amphibian
Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...
s such as the
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
have adhesive pads on their toes to help with their
locomotion
Locomotion means the act or ability of something to transport or move itself from place to place.
Locomotion may refer to:
Motion
* Motion (physics)
* Robot locomotion, of man-made devices
By environment
* Aquatic locomotion
* Flight
* Locomo ...
.
In helminths
Turbellaria
In the class
Turbellaria
The Turbellaria are one of the traditional sub-divisions of the phylum Platyhelminthes (flatworms), and include all the sub-groups that are not exclusively parasitic. There are about 4,500 species, which range from to large freshwater forms more ...
, only the species of the order
Temnocephalida are parasitic and possess an adhesive disc. The sucker is present at the posterior end on the ventral side. It is lined with syncytial epidermis and numerous microvilli. Beneath the apical membrane are many vacuoles and dense bodies. It is attached to the body through a short stalk. Densely packed muscle fibres link the sucker with the main body through the stalk.
Udonellidae
Udonellids are
symbiotic
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
to fishes, on which body they remain attached using a sucker. The sucker is a membranous extension of the posterior end. It has an indistinct stalk and the anterior surface is lined with microvilli. Some portion of the tegument has interconnected surface extension appearing as loops. The interior is divided into several compartments which are surrounded by interconnected
connective tissue
Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops from the mesenchyme derived from the mesoderm the middle embryonic germ layer. Connective tiss ...
. The connective tissues are linked with muscles that extend into the main body.
[
]
Tapeworms
In tapeworms, the sucker is called ''bothridium'' (plural "bothridia") to differentiate it from the sucker-like protrusion called bothrium
Bothria (from Greek ''bothrion'' = small pit, diminutive of ''bothros'' = pit, trench) are elongate, dorsal or ventral longitudinal grooves on the scolex of cestoda. They have weak muscles but are capable of some sucking action. Bothria occur as a ...
in some species.[
]
Flukes
Among the flukes belonging to class Digenea
Digenea (Gr. ''Dis'' – double, ''Genos'' – race) is a class of trematodes in the Platyhelminthes phylum, consisting of parasitic flatworms (known as ''flukes'') with a syncytial tegument and, usually, two suckers, one ventral and one oral. ...
, there are two suckers, namely an oral sucker and a ventral sucker (often called acetabulum
The acetabulum (), also called the cotyloid cavity, is a concave surface of the pelvis. The head of the femur meets with the pelvis at the acetabulum, forming the hip joint.
Structure
There are three bones of the ''os coxae'' (hip bone) that c ...
). The oral sucker is at the tip of the anterior body and directly surrounds the mouth. The ventral sucker is located halfway to the middle of the body on the ventral side. They are both used for attachment to intestinal wall and blood vessels. The detailed structure of the suckers, presence or absence of hooks, and their exact position on the body are major taxonomic keys between species.
In the class Monogenea
Monogeneans are a group of ectoparasitic flatworms commonly found on the skin, gills, or fins of fish. They have a direct lifecycle and do not require an intermediate host. Adults are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both male and female reprod ...
, buccal organs, also known as buccal suckers, are present in worm parasites
Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted structurally to this way of lif ...
of the order Mazocraeidea
Mazocraeidea is an order in the subclass Polyopisthocotylea within class Monogenea.
The species of this order have various structures in the clamps of their posterior attachment organ, including additional sclerites in the Gastrocotylidae and r ...
. They are known to have muscular, glandular, and sensory components thought to play some role in blood feeding. In other species like ''Anoplodiscus'', the sucker is a posterior extension, connected to the main body through a small stalk. The surface is profusely covered with microvilli. It is used for symbiotic association with fishes.[
]
Nematodes
Parasitic roundworms such as species of ''Ascaridia
''Ascaridia'' is a genus of parasitic nematodes. Members of the genus are primarily intestinal parasites of birds. Three species are well known, namely, Ascaridia galli, ''A. galli'' found mostly in chickens, ''A. dissimilis'' in turkey (bird) ...
'' and ''Heterakis
''Heterakis'' is a genus of parasitic nematodes. Members of the genus are minute roundworms (pinworms), hardly 1 cm long, infecting different species of gallinaceous birds, including chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, grouse, guineafowl, par ...
'' possess a single sucker at the posterior end of the body, just in front of anus, hence is often called a pre-anal sucker. Only the male roundworms have them, and are used for attachment to female during mating. The sucker is a protruding cuticle
A cuticle (), or cuticula, is any of a variety of tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings of an organism, or parts of an organism, that provide protection. Various types of "cuticle" are non- homologous, differing in their origin, structu ...
and circular in shape.
In annelids
Annelid worms such as 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 bodie ...
es all have an anterior (oral) sucker formed from the first six segments of their body, which is used to connect to a host for feeding. It also releases an anaesthetic
An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia — in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...
to prevent the host from feeling pain while it sucks blood. They use a combination of mucus and suction (caused by concentric muscles in those six segments) to stay attached and secrete an anti-clotting enzyme, hirudin, into the host's blood stream. The medicinal leech (''Hirudo medicinalis
''Hirudo medicinalis'', the European medicinal leech, is one of several species of leeches used as "medicinal leeches".
Other species of ''Hirudo'' sometimes also used as medicinal leeches include '' H. orientalis'', ''H. troctina'', and '' H. ...
'') has two suckers, one at each end, called the anterior
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...
and posterior sucker. The posterior is mainly used for leverage
Leverage or leveraged may refer to:
*Leverage (mechanics), mechanical advantage achieved by using a lever
* ''Leverage'' (album), a 2012 album by Lyriel
*Leverage (dance), a type of dance connection
*Leverage (finance), using given resources to ...
while the anterior sucker, consisting of the jaw
The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...
and teeth
A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, tear ...
, is where the feeding takes place. During locomotion directional movement of the body is done by successive attachment and detachment of the oral sucker and the acetabulum.[
]
Mollusca
Cephalopods are characterised by elongated appendages for locomotion and grasping object. There are two main types: arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
, such as in octopus
An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...
, bearing numerous suckers along its ventral surface; and tentacle
In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...
s, such as in squid
True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...
and cuttlefish
Cuttlefish or cuttles are marine molluscs of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control of ...
, having a single sucker at the tip. Each sucker is a circular and bowl-like curved disc. It in turn has two distinct parts: an outer shallow cavity called infundibulum and a central hollow cavity called acetabulum
The acetabulum (), also called the cotyloid cavity, is a concave surface of the pelvis. The head of the femur meets with the pelvis at the acetabulum, forming the hip joint.
Structure
There are three bones of the ''os coxae'' (hip bone) that c ...
. Both these structures are thick muscles, and are covered with chitin
Chitin ( C8 H13 O5 N)n ( ) is a long-chain polymer of ''N''-acetylglucosamine, an amide derivative of glucose. Chitin is probably the second most abundant polysaccharide in nature (behind only cellulose); an estimated 1 billion tons of chit ...
ous cuticle to make a protective surface. It is used for grasping substratum, catching prey and for locomotory accessory. When the sucker attaches itself on an object, the infundibulum mainly provides adhesion while the central acetabulum is quite free. The sequential muscle contraction the infundibulum and acetabulum causes attachment and detachment.
In fish
Gobies
Gobiidae or gobies is a family of bony fish in the order Gobiiformes, one of the largest fish families comprising more than 2,000 species in more than 200 genera. Most of gobiid fish are relatively small, typically less than in length, and the ...
, remora
The remora (), sometimes called suckerfish, is any of a family (Echeneidae) of ray-finned fish in the order Carangiformes. Depending on species, they grow to long. Their distinctive first dorsal fins take the form of a modified oval, sucker-li ...
s and lumpsucker
The Cyclopteridae are a family of marine fishes, commonly known as lumpsuckers or lumpfish, in the order Scorpaeniformes. They are found in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans. The greatest number of species ar ...
s have suckers which are modified fins. These fishes use their suckers to cling to substrata or to bigger fishes. In gobies the disc-shaped sucker is formed from fused pelvic fins. Amphidromous gobies particularly use their suckers for climbing through waterfalls during their developmental migrations. In remoras the sucker is a modified dorsal fin. In lumpsuckers, also known as lumpfish, the sucker is formed from modified pelvic fins, located ventrally, and behind the pectoral fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...
s.
A fish family the Catostomidae
The Catostomidae are the suckers of the order Cypriniformes, with about 78 species in this family of freshwater fishes. The Catostomidae are almost exclusively native to North America. The only exceptions are ''Catostomus catostomus,'' found in ...
are known as ''suckers''. These fish have a suckermouth In fish, a suckermouth is a ventrally-oriented (inferior) mouth adapted for grazing on algae and small organisms that grow on submerged objects.
All Loricariidae possess a suckermouth as do the cypriniform algae eaters of the genus ''Gyrinocheilus' ...
.
In bats
Certain species of bats such as Madagascar sucker-footed bat
The Madagascar sucker-footed bat, Old World sucker-footed bat, or simply sucker-footed bat (''Myzopoda aurita'') is a species of bat in the family Myzopodidae Endemism, endemic to Madagascar, especially in the eastern part of the forests. The gen ...
and Western sucker-footed bat
The western sucker-footed bat (''Myzopoda schliemanni'') is a bat endemic to Madagascar. Little is known about its habits, but they are assumed to be similar to those of the Madagascar sucker-footed bat.Garbutt, Nick; ''Mammals of Madagascar''; Y ...
, are generally called "sucker-footed bats" because of suckers on their limbs. They are members of the family Myzopodidae
''Myzopoda'', which has two described species, is the only genus in the bat family Myzopodidae. Myzopodidae is unique as the only family of bats presently endemic to Madagascar. However, fossil discoveries indicate that the family has an ancien ...
and endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. They have small cups of suckers on their wrists and ankles. They roost inside the rolled leaves of palm trees, using their suckers to attach themselves to the smooth surface.[Brown University News, December 2009,]
Bats Don’t Use Suction After All
/ref>
References
{{reflist, 30em
Annelid anatomy
Nematode anatomy
Platyhelminth anatomy
Animal morphology
Parasitic protostomes