Contact: Gail Gallessich
gail.g@ia.ucsb.edu
805-893-7220
University of California - Santa Barbara

Free-swimming Stage of the Trematode Parasite

Caption: Free-swimming stage of the trematode parasite. A single infected snail can release thousands of these tailed-stage parasites into the water every day. At this stage the parasite swims out from an infected snail, seeks out and burrows into a fish. The parasite then makes a cyst, and waits for a bird to ingest the infected fish. The parasite pops out of the cyst in the bird's gut, where the hermaphroditic parasite sexually matures and lays eggs.

Credit: Ryan Hechinger, UCSB

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