Diphyllobothrium adult

On the top of the photo is a scolex of Diphyllobothrium latum. There are no suckers or hooks present, but the scolex margins (top and bottom of the photo) are indented to form muscular bothria which grip the intestinal wall of the host.

The lower right photo shows a mature proglottid, anterior end to the right of the photo. Note how each proglottid slightly overlaps the one behind it. The dark mass in the centre of the proglottid is the egg-filled uterus. The rest of the proglottid is obscured by the large number of vitelline follicles and testes that are present.

The photo in the lower left is of a proglottid that has had the superficial layers dissected away from the centre, but not the margins. You can see numerous large testes on either side of the uterus. The vitelline follicles, which are not dissected away on the lateral margins, are visible as numerous tiny spheres, smaller than the testes. Behind the uterus, at the posterior margin of the proglottid, is the fan-shaped ovary. Just anterior to the uterus is a small red object which is where the male and female genital pores are located.