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Description
Someone said I should try and make a tapeworm cute. I think they are already...I just added a twinge of anthropomorphism.

Tapeworms, order Cestoda, are an amazing group of animals with an anatomy unlike any other. They are members of the Platyhelminthe phylum along with the widespread parasitic flukes, free-living planaria and beautiful marine flatworms.

What our eyes want to recognize as the "head" of a tapeworm is actually an appendage called the scolex, a knob of hooks and suckers employed as an anchor in the host's intestinal lining. It has no mouth, but takes in nutrients by osmosis, just like the walls of your own intestine.

The rest of the parasite is called the strobila, and can be more accurately described as a whole colony of worms. Each "segment" of the "body" is actually a complete individual called a proglottid, capable of independent movement and hermaphroditic reproduction, pumping millions of microscopic eggs into the body. As new proglottids grow directly from the scolex, the oldest break off from the opposite end and are eventually passed in the host's feces. From there, they crawl away to spread the eggs even farther.

The next step in the cycle is for the expelled eggs or proglottids to be accidentally eaten by a grazing mammal, which becomes the intermediate host. The tiny larvae don't develop into tapeworms just yet, but dig their way out of the digestive tract and embed themselves in the muscle tissue. The ultimate host will be the unfortunate meat-eater that doesn't practice thorough cooking. Here the parasites mature into the chain-like reproductive colonies.

The species most common in humans are the beef tapeworm Taenia saginata and the pork tapeworm Taenia solium. Solium averages only six to eight feet in length, while Saginata grows between ten and thirty. We are also a suitable home to the tapeworms of freshwater fish, especially salmon, though saltwater species find us less hospitable. Poultry is usually completely safe.

Tapeworms benefit enormously from the use of processed sewage as fertilizer and in animal feed, billions of eggs ending up exactly where they want to be for the cycle to start over again.

CLOSEUP OF A SCOLEX: [link]

VIDEO OF AN ADULT INSIDE A HOST: [link]

VIDEO OF A PROGLOTTID CRAWLING: [link]

Description
Someone said I should try and make a tapeworm cute. I think they are already...I just added a twinge of anthropomorphism.

Tapeworms, order Cestoda, are an amazing group of animals with an anatomy unlike any other. They are members of the Platyhelminthe phylum along with the widespread parasitic flukes, free-living planaria and beautiful marine flatworms.

What our eyes want to recognize as the "head" of a tapeworm is actually an appendage called the scolex, a knob of hooks and suckers employed as an anchor in the host's intestinal lining. It has no mouth, but takes in nutrients by osmosis, just like the walls of your own intestine.

The rest of the parasite is called the strobila, and can be more accurately described as a whole colony of worms. Each "segment" of the "body" is actually a complete individual called a proglottid, capable of independent movement and hermaphroditic reproduction, pumping millions of microscopic eggs into the body. As new proglottids grow directly from the scolex, the oldest break off from the opposite end and are eventually passed in the host's feces. From there, they crawl away to spread the eggs even farther.

The next step in the cycle is for the expelled eggs or proglottids to be accidentally eaten by a grazing mammal, which becomes the intermediate host. The tiny larvae don't develop into tapeworms just yet, but dig their way out of the digestive tract and embed themselves in the muscle tissue. The ultimate host will be the unfortunate meat-eater that doesn't practice thorough cooking. Here the parasites mature into the chain-like reproductive colonies.

The species most common in humans are the beef tapeworm Taenia saginata and the pork tapeworm Taenia solium. Solium averages only six to eight feet in length, while Saginata grows between ten and thirty. We are also a suitable home to the tapeworms of freshwater fish, especially salmon, though saltwater species find us less hospitable. Poultry is usually completely safe.

Tapeworms benefit enormously from the use of processed sewage as fertilizer and in animal feed, billions of eggs ending up exactly where they want to be for the cycle to start over again.

CLOSEUP OF A SCOLEX: [link]

VIDEO OF AN ADULT INSIDE A HOST: [link]

VIDEO OF A PROGLOTTID CRAWLING: [link]