Octomacrum

This species, like all monogeneans, has a direct life cycle. Adults live attached to the gills of a freshwater fish. They are hermaphrodites and produce eggs which are released into the water. After a short period of development the only larval stage, an oncomiracidium, develops and hatches. It is ciliated and swims until it contacts a new host. Then, it crawls to the gills and develops into an adult.