Differential Interference Contrast Image Gallery

Trematode (Fasciolopsis buski) Rediae

F. buski was first described in 1843 by English surgeon George Busk, who found the parasite in the duodenum of a sailor. The complex lifecycle of the trematode was not understood, however, until Claude H. Barlow’s determination of it in 1925. As he revealed, immature eggs of F. buski are discharged from humans or other definitive hosts with bodily wastes. If the eggs then reach water, they hatch in 3 to 7 weeks and form miracidia, organisms that looks similar to ciliated protozoa. The miracidia penetrate the soft tissues of snails and develop into a sporocyst state. The sporocysts then produce many daughter stages called rediae that asexually reproduce to yield cercariae. The cercariae, which feature a tail-like structure that enables them to swim, exit the snail host and encyst on nearby vegetation, where they develop into metacercariae.


© 1995-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, software, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.
This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
Last modification: Monday, Dec 01, 2003 at 03:02 PM
Access Count Since April 22, 2003: 13852
Microscopes provided by:
Visit the Nikon website. Visit the Olympus Microscopy Resource Center website.