Broad+Fish+Tapeworm

**Phyla**: Platyhelimenthes

**Class**: Cestoda

**Scientific Name**: Diphyllobothrium latum

**Loaction**: Native to Western Russia, North America, especially the Pacific Northwest.

**Size**: **Length**: Can get up to 12 meters long. (39 feet)

**Habitat**: Live in water until they find their host (the fish). Found around freshwater lakes and streams.

**Living requirements**: It feeds on the contents of the host mammals' intestines through absorption. It has no gut or mouth, so it does not contain a complete digestive system.

**Life Cycle**:Immature eggs are passed in feces of the mammal host, they leave host (fish) becoming larvae which is the infectious stage in humans. They reside in the small intestine, they can live in a humans body for 20 years.

**Male and Female differences**: Hermaphroditic, adults can shed up to a million eggs a day. Some are known to develop a second set of reproductive organs.

**Interesting Facts**: They fill your whole intestinal track. The fresh water fish tapeworm lives in salt water.

**Human impact**: Gets in humans through consumption of raw or undercooked fish. Causes: Anemia, but it can be treated.

Zookeeper: Sarah Reimer Content recieved from: [] [] [] Images recieved from: [] [|dlatumlifecycle.gif] [|vol3is6.jpg]