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Svømmende blodigle🪱

Photo: Karl Ragnar Gjertsen Please credit Karl Ragnar… · CC BY 2.5

SpeciesArhynchobdellidaHirudinidae
Other invertebrates

🪱Hirudo medicinalis

Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758

Hirudo medicinalis, or the European medicinal leech, is one of several species of leeches used as medicinal leeches.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Also called
European Medicinal Leech, medicinal leech, Medicinal leech
Conservation status
NTNear threatened

IUCN Red List assessment, 2014.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
not recorded
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
not recorded
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Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Hirudo medicinalis

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Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumAnnelida
  3. ›classClitellata
  4. ›orderArhynchobdellida
  5. ›familyHirudinidae
  6. ›genusHirudo
  7. ›speciesHirudo medicinalis
Full lineage
  1. phylumSegmented worms · Annelida
  2. subclassHirudinea
  3. orderHirudinida
  4. suborderHirudiniformes
All 6 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumSegmented worms · Annelida
  3. classClitellata
  4. subclassHirudinea
  5. orderHirudinida
  6. suborderHirudiniformes
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More about the Hirudo medicinalis

In other languages
Blodigle (nb), pijavka lékařská (cs), Medizinischer Blutegel (de), verijuotikas (fi), Hirudo medicinalis (fr), medicinale bloedzuiger (nl) … and 22 more languages
More photos
Svømmende blodigleEuropean medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) at the California Academy of Sciences 01European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis) at the California Academy of Sciences 02
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