Is it true that cutting an earthworm in two, results in two worms? How is that possible? What about if you cut it in three, four, or seven pieces?
(I’m not advocating violence against worms. I like and protect them, they’re good for my garden. This question has been bugging me for a while and it doesn’t make sense. )
9 replies
No, it's a myth.
Only one of the two halves would survives (the one with the head) but it's also possible that neither half would survive depending where the cut where made.
Almost. Some annelids really can regenerate from two halves, such as polychaetes. And actually, there is one type of earthworm that will evidently do this as well:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Perionyx+excavatus&udm=2
I remember waaay back at school, we had to perform some tasks on animals, one being live planarias. You could cut the head in half, and get a two headed worm, so I am not sure if cutting all along would regenerate on 2 full bodies though
Dissecting frogs, chickens, whatever, was not funny times to me for sure
not an earthworm, but Flatworms. flatworms belong to platyhelminthes phylum, and earthworms are annelids.
the free-living flatworms can be cut in to pieces and sitll regenerate full bodies, but you cant cut it too small though. this is why some of them are invasive species, very hard to get rid of.
you definitely dont want flatworms in you gardens though, they hunt earthworms and are toxic, and invasive.
How do you stop them?
Gun
https://xkcd.com/1217/
In all seriousness, I think changing the PH and moisture level would drive them away. It likely depends on where they are and what other life forms are present
This does work for starfish though.
Only if the cutting includes a section of the central plate.
Here's a relevant video on the topic of regeneration
https://youtu.be/n5U8M2JtAHk