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Story: Earthworms

Leech

Image
Leech

The Hirudinea class of worms are predaceous (bloodsucking) leeches. This is the front end of a leech, showing the proboscis (feeding and sucking tube) and front body segments.

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Landcare Research – Manaaki Whenua

© Copyright image. All rights reserved. Permission from Manaaki Whenua: Landcare Research New Zealand Limited must be obtained before the re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Gregor Yeates, Earthworms – What are earthworms?, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/15486/leech (accessed 10 June 2026).

Story by Gregor Yeates, published 1 March 2009.