01-22-2012, 12:00 AM
"Once anchored to the host's intestinal wall, the tapeworm absorbs
nutrients through its skin as the food being digested by the host flows
past it and it begins to grow a long tail, with each segment containing
an independent digestive system and reproductive tract. Older segments
are pushed toward the tip of the tail as new segments are produced by
the neckpiece. By the time a segment has reached the end of the tail,
only the reproductive tract is left. It then drops off, carrying the
tapeworm eggs to the next host, since, by that point, the proglottid is,
in essence, a sac of eggs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestoda
nutrients through its skin as the food being digested by the host flows
past it and it begins to grow a long tail, with each segment containing
an independent digestive system and reproductive tract. Older segments
are pushed toward the tip of the tail as new segments are produced by
the neckpiece. By the time a segment has reached the end of the tail,
only the reproductive tract is left. It then drops off, carrying the
tapeworm eggs to the next host, since, by that point, the proglottid is,
in essence, a sac of eggs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestoda