Tapeworms can be up to 30 or 36 feet (10–12 metres) long. They eat by absorbing material directly through their epidermis (outside layer). The head of a tapeworm has four suckers and two rings of hooks. The body of a tapeworm is in segments (pieces that are like each other). Each segment can produce eggs. Little segments of the tapeworm sometimes break off and pass out through the stool of the host, with the eggs. Little segments of its body fall off. They go out of the host body, and are eaten by the next host, which is another type of vertebrate.