have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these
lowly organized creatures.'
-Charles Darwin
Worms are actually amazing creatures.
There are good, beneficial ones, and nasty harmful ones but I guess they all have their reason for existence, just as everything does, even if only a link in the food chain. It's all about balance.
I’m gonna speak here about earthworms, though.
They are annelids (segmented or ringed worms....one ring to rule them al.....sorry [and no, I'm not explaining it to someone name Al *sigh*], it’s what springs to mind when I hear the word ‘ring’, and, oh, ‘ringworm’ is not caused by a worm at all, it’s a fungus, but there are worms that do burrow into the skin and invade digestive tracts and worse! Those aren’t very nice at all.)
Leeches are also an annelid and can be beneficial as well as being a painful
temporary parasite, like a tick, which is not an annelid but a arachnid or a
rather lame but funny superhero. He sucks more than Aquaman. Geddit? Sucks? :)
Anyway, I guess that makes him related to spider-man in a way, too....arachnids.
'THE Tick' (as opposed to 'A tick') fights crime, and does not suck blood.
At least that I am aware of.
Wait, would that put them in some category with vampires? Guess not. If a tick bites you, you do not turn into a tickpire. You may get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, though, or Lyme disease.
Back to worms. They are interesting creatures living in all sorts of environments- both marine and freshwater varieties, as well as the terrestrial ones, some even live in really inhospitable places like hydro-thermal vents, but I'm digressing again, so let us return to earthworms.
Here are their 'schematics', which you may or may not find boring depending on your interest and/or attention span (I'll make it brief and basic)-
Earthworms (among others) are the generally unappreciated by most, invertebrates, though they do have fluid filled chambers that function as a hydrostatic skeleton.
They generally grow to approximately 14 inches, but some can reach the length of nine feet! Wow, that's a big arse worm! Umm, Tremors? Dune?
They generally live in soil and feed on live and dead organic matter, and have a life expectancy of anywhere from four to eight years.
Their digestion system runs through their entire body, from mouth to periproct (anus), having a pharynx, esophagus, crop, gizzard and intestines in between.
They have a central and peripheous nervous system and breathe through their skin (having no special respiratory organs.)
In six segments of their bodies there are a pair of aortic arches which act as hearts in their circulatory system, which pumps blood to a ventral vessel that acts somewhat like an aorta. Hmm, multiple hearts, like The Doctor (Who), though he has only two, but that is not the only thing they have in common. Read on.
They are hermaphrodites (which is not the other thing they have in common with The Doctor. Actually, I'm not quite sure what 'equipment' The Doctor has???), but do not self replicate...well, they can, but not
in a sexual sense. Kinda. Anyhow, they have one or two pairs of testes and
release sperm through 'male pores', as well as having ovaries and oviducts and release eggs through female pores. They mate, generally at night on the surface,by exchanging sperm with each other. It then injects it's own eggs with the other worms sperm. Pretty interesting, huh?
Some do have the ability (this is where the other similarity to The Doctor enters the picture) to regenerate lost segments, dependent on the extent of damage.
I cite-
G.F. Gates report after 20 years of study-
'Eisenia Fetida (Savigny, 1826) with head regeneration, in an anterior direction,
possible at each intersegmental level back to and including 23/24, while tails were regenerated at any levels behind 20\21, i.e., TWO WORMS MAY GROW FROM ONE.
Lumbricus terrestris Linnaeus, 1758 replacing anterior segments from as far back as 13/14 and 16/17 but tail regeneration was never found.
Perionyx excavatur Perrier, 1872 readily regenerated lost parts of the body, in an anterior direction from as far back as 17/18, and in a posterior direction as far forward as 20/21.
Lampito mauritii Kinbert, 1867 with regeneration in anterior direction at all levels back to 25/26 and tail regeneration from 30/31; head regeneration was sometimes believed to be caused by internal amputation resulting from the Sarcophaga sp. larval infestation.
Criodrilus lacuum Hoffmeister, 1845 also has prodigious regenerative capacity with 'head' regeneration from as far back as 40/41.
So it is theoretically possible to grow two whole worms from a bisected one in
certain species.
Hmm, but are they both still the same worm? Do they share the same
personality or is it split, like good worm, bad worm? Would it be considered a clone? Do their souls split, too? And then can those two be split into two more in time?
Can/would they mate with themselves? This brings about a plethora of
questions.
Could the government create some hybrid super human worm soldiers that can regenerate into two (and or more) if wounded? A self replicating army!
Whatever, worms do play a very significant beneficial role in improving soil by
not only depositing casts (their form of poo) which contain humus, as well as
providing drainage and aerating soil when creating their tunnels, and are a food source for many other species including birds, fish, snakes, mammals and other invertebrates.
They ARE edible and are sold as food for human consumption though I don't imagine them being very tasty, but what do I know? They don't smell very nice (yes, I've handled worms) and they're rather wetish and gooey.
Poor little blind things. they must be very loving creatures, though. Twelve times as loving what with having all those hearts! They are probably poets, too, writing sonnets of love and such *sigh*
K, that's a little much.
They are also a valuable asset, as seen below-
Doug Collicut- 'In 1980, 370 million worms were exported from Canada, with Canadian export value of $13 million and an American retail value of $54 million.'
Wowzers, that’s a lot of millions! I wonder if their market value has increased or decreased since then? And think about it, back to the regeneration thing, for every one worm you can split them and double your $$$$, become a worm farmer....or would that be worm rancher?
Eh.
I think I'm done now.
Well, almost.
'....long, thin, slimy ones; Short, fat, juicy ones,
Itsy, bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms.
Down goes the first one,
Down goes the second one,
Oh, how they wiggle and squirm.
Up comes the first one,
Up comes the second one,
Oh how they wiggle and squirm.'
Now I'm done.
(actual information was from, where else, Wikipedia)