First North American record of the marine leech Notostomum laeve (Annelida: Hirudinea)
Burreson, E.M.; Arthur, J.R.
Journal of Parasitology 80(5): 820-822
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3395 PMID: 7931918 Document Number: 437153
The Arctic marine leech Notostomum laeve is reported for the first time from North America. A single, small specimen was collected in April 1990 on the external surface of 1 of 30 Greenland halibut Reinhardtius hippoglossoides from Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. Total length of the specimen including suckers is 41 mm; maximum body width is 1.8 mm. The species is easily identified by the unusual suckers. The caudal sucker is divided into 2 lateral halves that appear to close somewhat like a clam shell; the oral sucker is very thick and muscular with a row of small, hard teethlike papillae around the outer margin. On the basis of this report from northern Canada, N. laeve probably has a circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean.