1. These embryos move to the brood sac and mature into cercaria . 2. The cercaria either infects vertebrates through the skin or is ingested. 3. The redia themselves house the asexual reproduction of free-swimming cercaria . 4. The cercaria has two suckers : a ventral sucker and rounded subterminal sucker. 5. Dragonflies are affected by three major groups of cercaria in a secondary host, a snail. 6. This system of asexual reproduction allows for an exponential multiplication of cercaria individuals from one miracidium. 7. Each cercaria has a chemosensory apparatus it must use to sniff out a tadpole within about 12 hours. 8. They become infected when the larvae ( cercaria ) of the worm penetrates the flesh of the fish. 9. The cercaria leaves the snail and encysts in the muscle of the connective tissue of fresh-water species. 10. Once inside of the fish muscle, the cercaria create a protective metacercarial cyst with which to encapsulate their bodies.
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