Tapeworm
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tapeworms (often called Cestoda) are a type of flatworm. They are parasitic, which means that they need another larger creature whose body they can live on. Tapeworms live inside the intestines of vertebrate animals (animals that have backbones). This includes humans. A creature that has a parasite living in or on its body is called the host, because it feeds the parasite. When a vertebrate creature or human has a tapeworm, they lose weight and become weaker.
Tapeworms can be up to 30 or 36 feet (10-12 metres) long. They eat what ever the host eats in. The head of a tapeworm has four suckers and two rings of hooks. The body of a Tapeworms is in segments (pieces that are like each other). Each segment can produce eggs . Little segments of the tapeworm sometimes break off and pass out through the stool of the host, with the eggs. Little segments of its body fall off. They go out of the host body and when they get into another host that segment becomes a tape worm.
 Tapeworm with four suckers and two rows of hooks |
 Another image of a tapeworm |
