Worms               RETURN TO WILDLIFE PAGE

Introduction

Earthworms were brought to North America by the early European settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries Their heads have sense organs and are specialized for burrowing. They have more than one hundred body segments and they have a closed circulatory system with 5 pairs of aortic arches or hearts. They secrete mucus to keep their skin moist so oxygen will dissolve and diffuse into their body. They have a simple brain, no eyes, and dorsal and ventral nerve cords and they are completely deaf.

They are sensitive to light, touch, moisture, chemicals, temperature, & vibrations. They are Hermaphrodites that exchange sperm and cross-fertilize.They are nocturnal and sensitive to heat. cold, vibrations, and touch.. Worms can live under water as well as dirt bcause worms don't have lungs. They breathe via gas diffusion through special organs in their skin.

When a robin tries to pull an earthworm out of the ground, the worm uses its bristles to hold on tight to the wall of its home. Sometimes the worm holds on so tight and the Robin pulls so hard that the worm comes apart. The Robin keeps the front end and the hind end wriggles back into its burrow. If a bird pulls off the first 7 or 8 rings of the worm's body, new segments will grow. If a worm is pulled in half, the head end will grow back.

Food Habits

Worms feed on organic matter. Their pharynx is a muscular organ behind the mouth that helps suck in food. They moiston leaves with a pancreatic secretion before swallowing and have extra digestion in their calciterous glands. Food is temporarily stored in their crop, ground in their gizzard, and digested and absorbed in their intestine. Wastes called castings pass out through the anus

Family Life

Worms breed when it rains. They come out of the ground to find each other and to lie side by side in a mating posture, a difficult thing to do in the confines of their burrows.The only time earthworms can safely come to the surface to breed is when the ground is thoroughly soaked. Both worms secrete mucus, covering each other with a slime tube. Sperm are released and carried in grooves, now formed into tubes by the adjoining slime-covered worm, to the sperm receptacles of the partner. The worms then separate. Later each worm secretes a mucous ring, which slides forward over the worm's body, gathering several eggs from the oviducts and sperm from the receptacles as it does. Fertilization takes place within the mucous ring, which slips off the front of the worm, closing at both ends to form a capsule, from which one or two worms hatch a few weeks later.

Winter Habits

Normally worms can't move if their body temperature gets very cool. By the time the soil is frozen, worms are too still to budge, and many of them actually die if they reach the freezing point. So the worms that survive northern winters are usually the ones that have buried themselves deepest in the soil. In general, they form a ball of worms below the frozen earth.

Threats

Worms are 95% protein and sought after by many small mammals, snakes, and birds. Many get dehydrated or stepped on when they come out during or after a rain.

Benefits

Earthworms are among the most important decomposers in the cycle of life. By eating organic waste, they make dirt for more plants to grow in and provide us with food and oxygen. Worms are a great asset to a garden because they create openings so that water, air, and nutirents can reach plant roots.

Problems and Solutions