Liver fluke General Characteristics | Free Biology Notes

In this article we will discuss about Liver fluke General Characteristics

Liver fluke General Characteristics

• Liver fluke is found commonly in freshwater
• Fasciola hepatica is an endoparasite of sheep
• The liver fluke has unsegmented body with two suckers
• Digestion is holozoic, respiration is anaerobic and excretion with flame cells
• Life history involve two hosts (Digenetic parasite)
  1. Primary host – Sheep & Goat
  2. Secondary host – Garden snail
• Adult fluke is found in bile duct and liver of sheep and causes liver rot
• Shows many larval stages namely miracidium > sporocyst > Redia > Cercaria > Metacercaria >
• Eaten by sheep and develops into adult fluke
• Infective stage for primary host – Metacercaria
• Infective stage for secondary host – Miracidium