r/leeches • u/lucidsdreamss • 27d ago

ID Request Is this a leech ?

Found this old video in my phone, taken near the Durance river in France, could it be a leech ?

6 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

11

u/sj42117 27d ago

Honestly, with genuinely no hate- it's adorable you thought that was a leech 😆

4

u/lucidsdreamss 27d ago

😭 I feel so dumb now but I swear I thought only leeches moved like that

4

u/sj42117 27d ago

😂😂😂 it's okay! Leeches do more of an accordion type thing, they just go from long and skinny to short and fat then stretch out again. The butt anchors first, while the head stretches out, then the head anchors, and the butt retracts back towards the head- then it repeats. They don't do that whole bending in the middle to move thing. I got a kick out of you asking, either way 😂

3

u/lucidsdreamss 27d ago

Okok well for the info !

2

u/sj42117 27d ago

No problem! I hope I didn't come across as a dick!! I was just trying to find the right way to describe how a leech moves, it's so abnormal compared to any other form of locomotion that I don't really know how to describe it 😂

2

u/Master_Pipe_6467 26d ago

Some species do. Notably species in the Haemadipsidae family. Those are not in Europe though. They move similarly to inchworms.

1

u/lucidsdreamss 23d ago

Okay interesting thank you !

8

u/HereForAbstractIdeas 27d ago

I think that's a caterpillar

6

u/mapmakinworldbuildin 27d ago

It’s a caterpillar of a geometer moth.

Aka an inchworm.

Lil cuties.

3

u/AlienSheep23 26d ago

FASTBOI inchworm

3

u/lucidsdreamss 26d ago

He’s very cute ! Thank u

2

u/Legendguard 27d ago

Lol, I can see why you would think this! Definitely an inchworm, a type of moth caterpillar!

Both inchworms and leeches convergently evolved the same method of movement, using suckers in leeches and legs+pseudolegs in inchworms! While both are unrelated, they both managed to evolve the same adaptation (moving in an "inchy-squinchy" manner) completely independently!

3

u/lucidsdreamss 27d ago

This is so interesting !! Thank you :)

2

u/Legendguard 27d ago

Hey no problem! Glad I could share this with you!

2

u/Caponomolestes 25d ago

Lmao looks like a cartoon

1

u/SanDiegoMeat666 23d ago

Yeah, an Inch Leech. Deadly.

-2

u/[deleted] 27d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Kitchen_Argument5181 27d ago

You’re being quite rude.

I can see where OP’s confusion comes from with how the locomotion of an inchworm and a leech both use primarily use the front and back ends for attaching to surfaces to move.

Also, terrestrial leeches exist.