Trypanorhyncha

Trypanorhyncha is an order of cestodes, a type of flatworm.

Trypanorhyncha
Nybelinia basimegacantha[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Platyhelminthes
Class:	Cestoda
Subclass:	Eucestoda
Order:	Trypanorhyncha
Suborders and families
Acystidea Hepatoxylidae Paranybeliniidae Sphyriocephalidae Tentaculariidae Cystidea Dasyrhynchidae Eutetrarhynchidae Gilquiniidae Gymnorhynchidae Hornelliellidae Lacistorhynchidae Mustelicolidae Otobothriidae Pseudogrillotiidae Pterobothriidae Rhinoptericolidae Tetrarhynchobothriidae

Some species infect gamefish, such as sciaenids, during the parasitic worm's plerocercoid stage, and are commonly called spaghetti worm because of their appearance, approximating cooked spaghetti. Such species include Poecilancistrium caryophyllum and Pseudogrillotia pleistacantha.

Their scolex, or head region, has 2 to 4 bothria, or sucking grooves that cling onto the host. They have four retractable tentacles.^[2]

Gallery

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  Tentacle of Nybelinia basimegacantha, parasitic in the fish Neoniphon sammara
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  Plerocerci of Callitetrarhynchus gracilis in the body cavity of the fish Scomberomorus commerson
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  melanized plerocerci in the bodycavity of a grouper
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  Molicola horridus in the liver of the fish Diodon hystrix