The Membrane King

I received several links to these articles (1 & 2), and for once I had the good wisdom not to open them during a meal.

If you do not want to see photos of leeches feeding upon human (or canine) membranes, then proceed no further.

The Amazon river has yielded yet another monster. Stare into the face of what has been dubbed the Tyrant Leech King (Tyrannobdella rex, and the name of my next children's book). There are many leeches known the world over that attach themselves to membranes and start sucking away (see last photo). But there's something else going on with this new leech (first photo), and scientists aren't quite sure why.

They've got teeth that are five times larger than most leeches, yet genitalia that are about ten times smaller. Why the disparity? We don't know. But it will inevitably turn out to be something nefarious and nightmare-inducing.

So, next time you swim in the upper Amazon (Peru, in this instance), keep all of your orifices squeezed shut (and I mean all of them, all of them), or you might end up with what one nine-year-old girl described as a 'sliding' sensation where there shouldn't be one.

Thanks for the lovely parasite, Jennifer, Rebeca, Jeff, and Ida. You've got me clamped down tight and itchy.

Photo source: Wired and National Geographic