Had I seen these, I would have assumed they were little leeches, but according to Naturespeak, these are planaria - related to the funny-headed critters of your childhood science classes.
What is less known is that planarians are actually very common members of our local aquatic community... There are thousands of different kinds and few of them are actually called Planaria. That is a genus name of one particular group that has become a general term to cover the whole group of flatworms called Turbellarians...Additional photos and thoughts about their winter-hardiness at Naturespeak.
I encountered a whole school of turbellarians the other day in a small drainage outlet. A thin sheet of ice covered the slowly flowing water and the flatworms were crawling about the bottom as if it were a balmy summer day... Look closely and you’ll see the trademark cross-eyed look of all planarians (see detail here). These are photo-receptive cells called ocelli and for all intents and purposes they are eyes...
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