Tapeworms: Cestoda - Physical Characteristics, Habitat, Behavior And Reproduction, Tapeworms And People, Broad Fish Tapeworm (diphyllobothrium Latum): Species Accounts - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, DIET, CONSERVATION STATUS
Tapeworms live all over the world.
Tapeworms eat by absorbing nutrients from their hosts' intestines.
Tapeworms are not considered threatened or endangered.
Additional Topics
The body of most tapeworms is flat and much longer than it is wide, so that it looks like a tape or ribbon. The length varies from 0.02 inch (0.6 millimeter) to 98 feet (30 meters), the longest worms being found in sperm whales. Tapeworms are parasites that have no head, mouth, or digestive system. Parasites (PAIR-uh-sites) are animals or plants that live on or in other animals or plants, or hosts…
Tapeworms live in almost all land, sea, and freshwater habitats where vertebrates live. Vertebrates (VER-teh-brehts) are animals with a backbone. Most adult tapeworms live in the intestines of the final hosts, but a few species live in the body cavity. Tapeworm larvae, which live in a host called the intermediate host before moving to the final host, live in various types of tissue, such as liver,…
Scientists know little about the behavior of tapeworms in the intestines of their hosts. It seems that most tapeworms attach themselves at a certain site of the intestinal wall and stay there for their entire lives. Tapeworms follow this general scheme as their life cycle. The eggs, each holding an embryo (EHM-bri-yo), pass into the environment with the final host's feces and are eaten by t…
Fifty-seven species of tapeworms live in humans. Six of these species are considered a public health problem because they cause serious diseases. Tapeworms also are dangerous to animals kept by people, such as horses, sheep, cattle, dogs, cats, rabbits, and domestic birds. Tapeworms infect the fish that people eat and reduce production in fish farms. …
Physical characteristics: The strobila of broad fish tapeworms is about 30 feet (9 meters) long and has three thousand to four thousand proglottids. The scolex is finger shaped. Geographic range: Broad fish tapeworms live in Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Russia, the United States, Canada, Ireland, Japan, around some lakes and large rivers in Africa, and in South America. Habitat: The final hosts…
Physical characteristics: Adult dog tapeworms are 0.1 to 0.2 inch (3 to 6 millimeters) long. The body consists of the scolex, a short neck, and 3 to 5 proglottids. The scolex has 30 to 36 hooks. The gravid proglottids are very long. Geographic range: Dog tapeworms live all over the world. Habitat: Adult dog tapeworms live in the intestines of meat-eating mammals, mainly dogs, wolves, and jackals. …
Physical characteristics: The body of Proteocephalus longicollis worms is about 9 inches (22 centimeters) long and 0.08 inch (2 millimeters) wide. The scolex has small suckers and a small suckerlike organ at the tip. There are reproductive openings on the sides of the proglottids. Geographic range: Proteocephalus longicollis (abbreviated to P. longicollis) worms live in Europe, Asia, and North Ame…
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