Some-among them the well-known European Medical Leech ( " Hirudo medicinalis " ) of the Hirudiniformes-are bloodsuckers, while most-including the Kinabalu Giant Red Leech ( " Mimobdella buettikoferi " ) of the Erpobdelliformes-are predators that hunt small invertebrates which are swallowed whole.
12.
"' Hematophagy "'( sometimes spelled "'haematophagy "'or "'hematophagia "') is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood ( from the nematodes, such as Ancylostomids, feed on blood extracted from the capillaries of the gut, and about 75 percent of all species of leeches ( e . g ., " Hirudo medicinalis " ), a free-living worm, are hematophagous.
