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Of the 650 species of leech listed, Hirudo medicinalis is one of the most extensively studied. This annelid from the subclass Hirudinea has 2 suckers, one housing the mouth and its 3 jaws. It lives mainly in the stagnant waters of marshes and ponds. When it comes to reproduction, the animal is a hermaphrodite. Inseminated leeches lay their eggs during the spring and summer months, outside the water, with cocoons containing as many as thirty young.
(AP) -- Phil DeVore pulls a folded piece of aluminum from a murky pond. The aluminum looks like a piece of siding that's blown off a building, but DeVore knows it's much more valuable than that. He slips a rubber band off the aluminum and unfolds it. He likes what he sees -- 50 or 60 glistening black leeches. They're your common ribbon leeches, Nephelopsis obscura to aquatic biologists.