Trophic exchanges between parent and young during development of Glossiphonia complanata (Annelida, Hirudinea)

Glossiphoniids are iteroparous hirudineans that brood their offspring. The young are attached by the posterior sucker to the parent's ventral side until development is complete. The weight loss of the brooding adults is commonly attributed to their reduced possibility of feeding and to the increased metabolic expense for movements needed to ventilate the offspring. The present study showed that there is a passage of nutritive substrates between the parental body wall and the young's sucker. A possible correlation between this passage and the reabsorption of some muscle fibers that occurs in the adult's body wall is also analyzed.