Hirudiculture is the culture, or
farming
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...
, of
leeches in both natural and artificial environments. This practice drew the attention of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
ian savants and members of the French Société Zoologique d'Acclimitation in the mid-to-late 19th century as a part of a larger interest in the culture of
fish
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 ...
and
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...
s. Leech culture was seen as a solution to growing demand for medicinal leeches throughout the world.
The use of leeches for medicinal purposes, or
hirudotherapy, has been revived by contemporary medicine.
FDA approves leeches as medical devices
- NBC News
See also
* Aquaculture
References
External links
Leechcraft in nineteenth century British medicine
Pharmacy
Aquaculture
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