NEET BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Like vampires, most leeches feed by sucking blood from their hosts (they are sanguivorous). They generally attach themselves to their meal with their anterior sucker, and some have a proboscis they insert into their prey from their mouth. Others may use strong jaws to cut into through the tissues of their prey.

Detailed explanation-2: -Because of their important salivary components, blood-sucking (sanguivorous) leeches, such as Hirudo medicinalis and related species, have engendered great interest from pharmaceutical companies searching for anticoagulants to prevent blood clotting during microsurgeries.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

Detailed explanation-4: -Hirudinaria or Leech is a sanguivorous annelid as it feeds on the blood of the organisms.

Detailed explanation-5: -Leeches are important in the food web of a lake. They are predators, prey, parasites and vectors of parasites. The leeches of North America are not nearly as serious a pest as tropical leeches. However, leeches are bothersome to humans in areas used for swimming.