Miracidia hatch from the eggs, penetrate suitable snails and develop two generations of sporocysts. The last of these then produces fork-tailed cercariae. These cercariae penetrate the skin when a new host comes into contact with the contaminated water. Once through the skin the cercariae shed their tails and become schistosomulae that then migrate through the tissues to the liver. Here male and female flukes copulate and migrate to either the bladder or rectum where eggs are laid.
Schistosomiasis can result in chronic liver, spleen and bladder damage.
F. hepatica eggs, shed from the infected primary host, mature into the embryonated form in the environment. These then hatch and release a motile miracidia that seeks out and penetrates the tissue of the intermediate snail host. Cercaria are produced in the snail that when released into the environment can encyst to produce metacercariae. In temperate climates man is often infected by eating wild watercress on which metacercariae have collected. After being ingested, the metacercariae pass through the duodenal wall and penetrate the liver capsule.