Leech#4 This is a very nice specimen of a Leech preserved in an acrylic test tube for your viewing pleasure! The display is approx. 6 1/2 x 3/4". Great addition to any collection!
Pictures are an example of the ONE you will be receiving.
Species and fun facts-Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms[1][2] that belong to the phylum Annelida and comprise the subclass Hirudinea. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworms, and like them have soft, muscular, segmented bodies that can lengthen and contract. Both groups are hermaphrodites and have a clitellum, but leeches typically differ from the oligochaetes in having suckers at both ends and in having external annulations that do not correspond with their internal segmentation. The body is relatively solid, and the spacious body cavity found in other annelids, the coelom, is reduced to small channels.
The majority of leeches live in freshwater environments, while some species can be found in terrestrial and marine environments. The best-known, such as the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, are hematophagous, attaching themselves to a host with a sucker and feeding on blood, having first secreted the peptide hirudin to prevent the blood from clotting. A minority of leech species are predatory, mostly preying on small invertebrates.
In aquatic species, the eggs are enclosed in a cocoon which is usually attached to something solid, but terrestrial species often conceal the cocoon under a log or in a crevice. Almost 700 species of leech are currently recognised, of which some 100 are marine, 90 terrestrial and the remainder freshwater.
Leeches were used in medicine from ancient times until the 19th century to draw blood from patients. In modern times, leeches find medical use in treatment of joint diseases such as epicondylitis and osteoarthritis, extremity vein diseases, and microsurgery, while hirudin is a valuable drug for some blood-clotting disorders.
Please note: Due to USPS shipping regulations the specimen will be shipped without alcohol. You can fill a jar of your choosing with 70% Isopropyl alcohol which can be purchased at any grocery or drug store.
The specimen will come in a bag with just a small amount of alcohol in it to make sure it does not dry in shipping. The specimen should be removed from the bag, added to your/the jar and filled with the 70 percent alcohol to the top of the specimen once you receive.
If you do not have alcohol readily available you may freeze the specimen, wrap the specimen in double freezer bags with no air in the specimen bag and thaw when you have your alcohol available.
* These are not for Human or Animal consumption, the product is not alive or edible. Use gloves and mask when handling specimens. ISOPROPYL AND FORMALIN IN THE PRODUCT IS FLAMMABLE! KEEP AWAY FROM HEAT AND OPEN FLAME.*
This item has been professionally preserved for display. Wear gloves and mask when handling wet specimens*
No Returns on this item.
𝓢𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓲𝓬 𝓒𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓞𝓭𝓭𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓮𝓼 - 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓪𝓬𝓪𝓫𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽𝓼 𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓵 🐇🔮✨
We do our best to ensure all specimens, animals, insects and flora, used in our displays or offered by us are sustainably sourced.
If you purchase a second item with your order and send a note with the order that says "gift", we will include a gift with your order. All orders must have 2 or more items (not identical) to qualify. Our way of saying "Thank you" for looking!
All displays will be carefully packed to the best of our ability to insure a safe and damage free arrival. With Ground Advantage and Priority mail you will be covered by $100 worth of insurance. If damage occurs in shipping and your item was shipped with Ground Advantage or Priority mail, the post office now requires you to bring the package in to a postal center/office for inspection before any insurance payments will be approved and the item has to be in the original shipping box with all packing as you received still in box. Your refund will be processed once the package has been inspected and the receipt from the post office acknowledging the inspection is forwarded to us. This is an ordeal that no one wants to go through, including us, so we do our best to make sure no one has too!
Items that ship free and are returned for incorrect address or insufficient address will be charged a restocking fee or shipping fee to cover initial shipping costs and the balance refunded or given the option to purchase shipping for resending the item with corrected address.
If there was an original shipping fee and the item is returned for an incorrect or insufficient address and you would like the item resent, the option will be given to repurchase shipping. There are no refunds on initial shipping for an incorrect or insufficient address.
