The Trematode Life Cycle

by
Duncan Parks
Scientist

All animals have a LIFE CYCLE that describes the different stages their life takes. For example, egg, tadpole, and frog are all different stages of a frog's life cycle.

If we want to understand why trematodes would be causing lots of deformities in frogs, we need to understand their life cycle. It is very complicated. Like other parasites, trematodes live in another organism called the HOST. In the different stages of a trematode's life cycle, it can live in four different hosts: a tadpole, a frog, a snake, and a pond snail.The picture below shows the hosts in the trematode's life cycle.