Unidentified leech from Whitby beach

[quippy]

My daughter found this leech on Whitby beach today. It measured about 12cm when fully extended. Unfortunately I had no handlens with me so couldn't verify eye spots etc.

She's only five years old (my daughter, not the leech) and I couldn't ascertain exactly on which part of the beach she found it. there are a number of drainage pipes that open onto the sand, so it could possibly be a freshwater species.



Any help with identification would be gratefully recieved.

Chris W

[tom00_uk]

it looks a lot like a hagfish

[The Woodman]

I must admit this has been baffling me. I think that's a very good suggestion, tom00_UK.

Perhaps a juvenile Myxine glutinosa?

I've never seen one but having just looked them up at your suggestion, it could fit the bill.

[quippy]

Many thanks Tom and The Woodman, but I don't think it was a hagfish. It was very rectractible, as I hope these images show. It had a small sucker on one end and a larger, more clearly defined one at the other. I also think it was segmented, as you may just be able to pick out from the photos.

It didn't produce the quantity of slime you'd expect from a hagfish and in water it never attempted to swim in any way. We had it in a polystyrene cup for a short while to have a good look at it, and I have to admit that it did look like a little hagfish at that point.

I looked for details, but had no lens to hand to examine it thoroughly. I could see no gill slits or holes. In future I'll carry a lens at all times. You never know what you might find.

I suspect its a freshwater species washed down in one of the many drains that wash down onto the sand, they're dirty pipes that pick up rainwater from the cliffs, in which case putting it in saltwater probably annoyed it a bit to say the least. My daughter seems to have found it near the sea wall. The tide was well in at the time.







Chris W

[ladyhawk]

its one of the beach worms don't know what species though my brain is not working today .

[Ukwildlifeo]

Looking in Collins freshwater life, the amphibious leech (Trocheta subviridis) looks a reasonable match. Its says it is earthworm like, lives around water and can tolerate organic pollution (as you might find in drainage pipe).

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by ladyhawk

its one of the beach worms don't know what species though my brain is not working today .

I though lugwom but that sucker pretty much rules anything but a leech

[The Woodman]

Originally Posted by Ukwildlifeo

Looking in Collins freshwater life, the amphibious leech (Trocheta subviridis) looks a reasonable match. Its says it is earthworm like, lives around water and can tolerate organic pollution (as you might find in drainage pipe).

I think you're there, Neil. I see Peter D posted an image that you made a suggestion of ID in his post of 26 March this year.

NBN distribution map here....NBN Gateway: Trocheta subviridis grid map

They do occur in some strange places....

In April of this year (1922) a specimen was sent to the Agricultural Department, Armstrong College, by Mr S. Giles of South Shields, along with a note explaining that it had been found “down in the first spit of the soil” in one of a group of allotments there. It was obviously a specimen of a leech, but the specimen was submitted later, to Mr John Ritchie, the Museum, Perth, who kindly identified the species as Trocheta subviridis, and who mentioned that “this gives so far as I am aware, a more northern habitat than hitherto recorded. See Parasitology, vol. III, p. 182.”

and

One such communication occurred just after Christmas when Rosemary van der Does sent me an e-mail about a leech she found in a bucket of water in her garden at Cotton. Having looked at my website she realised that she could not identify it out from the seven species recorded in Suffolk. However it seemed an unusual occurrence to Rosemary so she e-mailed it anyway.

I suspect that two or three explanations are possible.
Many of our leeches predate small invertebrates or even feed on carrion and some are quite happy to leave the water to search for food so long as the air is moist and there is no danger of desiccation. Thus species such as Haemopsis sanguisuga may often be found out of water at night. Trocheta subviridis and Trocheta bykowskii burrow through soil to feed on earthworms and return to water to breed, they have been known to turn up in sinks and drains.

An interesting find and record (presumably now positively ID'd but I'm trying to find T. bykowskii in literature), the freshwater drainage pipes probably the conduit to it's marine location. Nice one and forgive me for rambling.

[quippy]

Thanks very much for all your hard work and discovering what sounds like a positive ID. I knew it was something unusual and suspected it wasn't a marine species.

The pipes drain rainwater out from the soil in the cliffs, and as these leeches predate earthworms etc, it could be imagined that one got into the pipe and was washed onto the beach. The running water in the pipe itself would be a difficult environment to live in due to the constant current I suspect.

Chris W