Re: leeches

[Scott Lewis <ScottWmLewis at attbi_com>]

Brown_D at pcfnotes1_wustl.edu wrote:

> Ok, you asked for really obscure topics......or someone did....anyway,
> hirudin, the active anticlotting agent of leech saliva, is a protein that,
> if taken orally, would just get digested.  This would make it safe for the
> fish eating a leech, but not for the fish with a leech attached.  Hirudin
> is used medically by direct application of the leech, although a new
> synthetic form is being developed, that can be administered intravenously
> without requiring any actual leeches.

I hadn't thought about the affects of eating the saliva.  That is good to know
that it is harmless, though.  It's been a good day.  I learned -two- new
things today.  <s>


> If I had a nice clean source of
> leeches (like those raised for medical use) I wouldn't hesitate to feed
> them to my fish....as long as I was sure the fish would eat them before
> they fed on the fish!

OK, that sounds about like I thought.  Not in any hurry.  But, raising some
leeches sometime in the future sounds like it might be interesting.  Not in my
'prize fish' tank, though. ;>

--
Scott

-- Microsoft Outlook, the hacker's path to your hard disk.




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