---
title: "Horse Leech"
description: "Haemopis sanguisuga — Altri animali. Haemopis sanguisuga is a species of freshwater leech in the family Haemopidae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/horse-leech
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Horse Leech

> Haemopis sanguisuga — Altri animali. Haemopis sanguisuga is a species of freshwater leech in the family Haemopidae.

- Scientific name: *Haemopis sanguisuga*
- Category: `other` (Altri animali)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Laghi e fiumi)
- iNaturalist observations: 4089
- Wikidata: [Q1051334](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1051334)
- iNaturalist taxon: [468867](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/468867)

## Names

- en: Horse Leech
- de: Pferdeegel
- es: Sanguijuela del Caballo
- fr: Sangsue noire
- pl: Pijawka końska

## Countries with the most observations

RU (551), DE (275), AT (250), GB (244), PL (237), UA (178), FR (171), DK (139), IT (128), CZ (112), ES (110), FI (89)

## Summary

Haemopis sanguisuga is a species of freshwater leech in the family Haemopidae. It is commonly called the horse-leech, but that is due to the similarity of its appearance to the leech Limnatis nilotica, which sometimes enters the nasal cavities of livestock. Haemopis sanguisuga does not behave in this way. Another synonym for this leech is Aulastomum gulo.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haemopis_sanguisuga

## Photo

![Horse Leech](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/horse-leech/medium.jpg)

Photo: Hubert Sztyler · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/327831420

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/horse-leech?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).