There are creatures on Earth, the number of which people may not even realize. Flatworms and roundworms belong to just such a group of animals. There are more than a million species in these two orders that live in both hemispheres of the planet, and they can be found in water bodies, in the ground, and also on plants. There are a lot of interesting facts about round and flatworms, and their number is increasing every day, since not only zoologists, but also doctors pay great attention to the study of these groups.
How many are there?
Having appeared several hundred million years ago, these orders of animals continued to change. The number of varieties became more and more, and among them were those that were able to successfully survive to this day.
Despite the fact that these creatures are considered quite primitive, their organization and way of life have provided them with high stability against the backdrop of changing environmental conditions. Modern invertebrate zoologists have described in detail more than 24 thousand species of tapeworms and more than a million species of roundworms or nematodes, as they are also called. But even according to the most optimistic calculations, this is far from the final figure, since discoveries are constantly ongoing. This is due to the fact that representatives of the orders are settled throughout the Earth in the most diverse and hard to reach places. For example, they are able to live in soil at a depth of about 1 km and withstand temperatures of up to 100°C.
Number of square meter can boggle the mind: favorable conditions warm waters In fresh water bodies, the number of nematodes can reach up to 1 million specimens per 1 m3.
Dangerous guests
This dangerous guest can enter the human intestine by eating fish that has not undergone thorough heat treatment. Fans of authentic Japanese sushi, which uses raw fish meat, are at the greatest risk.
Worms are primitive organisms, but their primitiveness is well founded and helps these creatures survive without unnecessary problems. For example, flatworms completely lack a digestive system, but this does not mean that they do not eat. Simply, the absorption of the necessary nutrients occurs over almost the entire surface of the body through normal osmosis. They also do not have a respiratory system, since they have mastered life in the absence of oxygen.
An interesting fact is that most varieties of flatworms will perform their vital functions just fine even after their body has been turned inside out.
This means that the tissues do not have a very narrow specialization, so they can pass all the nutrients in both directions.
Nematodes are much more complex in structure, this is due to the fact that they appeared later than flatworms. Not only do they have organ systems, but they also have gender divisions. It has been established that males and females most often differ in appearance and size.
An interesting feature is the presence of a hydroskeleton in the order of roundworms. These are cavities filled with liquid that allow them to maintain a constant shape. Although most people consider the absence of a hard skeleton a sign of fragility, these animals do not need a strong internal foundation, since mechanical damage is not a common problem for them.
Parents with many children
In the external environment, flatworms and roundworms are quite vulnerable. And in order to maintain its numbers at high level, they need to reproduce at a very high intensity. Amazingly, the bovine tapeworm produces about 11 billion eggs in its lifetime. Not every egg will be able to develop into a sexually mature individual: more than 99.9% will die without ever reaching an environment suitable for life.
An interesting fact concerns schistosomes. These representatives of flatworms are monogamous, which is no longer found in this order. But the point is not at all about fidelity or love forever, everything is much simpler. Female schistosomes are much smaller than males, so they live in a special pocket on the body of their partner.
It is not advisable to look for another female when a sexual partner is always near you, so these two individuals mate only with each other until death.
Incredible abilities
The physiology of flat and roundworms is primitive at first glance, but studying it in more detail, you can discover interesting facts. For example, the amazing ability to recover from any damage is amazing. Everyone knows that an earthworm can be cut into several parts and get several full specimens. But in this regard, flatworms have left their more developed relatives far behind. The most unique is the planarian species: its representatives can clone themselves even after 99% of the body is destroyed.
The most amazing experiment, which led to the complete restoration of separated organisms, was cutting the planaria into 280 parts. Regeneration made it possible to restore each individual particle to a full-fledged organism, but they were all very small - only 0.005 cm.
And even that’s not all: if in environment if conditions change sharply to those that threaten the normal existence of the planaria, it may fall apart. Once the danger has passed and conditions are right again, these separate parts are able to come together. Sometimes some components fall out, but this does not affect the physiology of the newly assembled organism.
Silent conversation
And the most interesting fact concerns the recent discovery made by specialists from the California Institute of Technology. It turned out that roundworms are capable of communication. This fact may revolutionize existing ideas about lower animals. It is likely that the data obtained will force zoologists to take a fresh look at the general taxonomy of animals and make the necessary adjustments.
Some data obtained from research on flatworms include: literally The words shocked the scientists. This discovery was that these creatures are capable of receiving information acquired by the organism that they ate. To better understand what we are talking about, you need to familiarize yourself with the results of laboratory tests.
The experiment consisted of one generation of planarians being initially trained to navigate a maze. When this began to work out well, they were ground to a puree, after which they were fed to the next worms. This new group showed excellent ability to navigate the maze in the same way as their trained predecessors had done.
Another amazing ability: despite the very primitive nervous system, worms are able to develop reflexes throughout their lives. In addition, zoologists were able to establish that the emerging reflex will be preserved in both new individuals if the old specimen is divided in half. Why and how this happens is a big mystery for modern science, which they really hope to solve in the near future.
Meat eaters and vegetarians
Even in the 7th grade, according to the school curriculum, children get acquainted with flat and round worms. During presentations, much attention is paid to the impact these animals have on human health. But they often forget to mention that these groups cause enormous harm and agriculture, and therefore the country’s economy.
The picture is even sadder with vegetables. IN different years More than half of the onion harvest is spoiled by onion nematode. After the potato nematode infects potatoes, 40% of the harvest harvested in the fall is lost in storage, even under ideal storage conditions. Up to 20% of beets are lost due to beet nematode damage. If we translate these data into national figures, the scale of the losses will amaze anyone.
/ 5 ( 6 votes)Worms are a huge class of the animal kingdom. Even though they are disgusting appearance, unpleasant to the senses, but very interesting to study. Many people will probably say something interesting. In this article we will look at many facts about worms that will not leave anyone indifferent.
Annelids get their name from the bristles that completely cover the animal's body. Most individuals have a head with tentacles and eyes, where bristles, antennae and tactile whiskers are located.
The most interesting representative of annelids is the earthworm, which we will consider in more detail. 
Earthworms are part of the existence of life on the planet. They are food for rats, moles, toads, fish and birds. Earthworms are 82 percent pure protein and are eaten not only by animals, but also by people. If you eat them constantly, then the level of cholesterol in the human body will significantly decrease. Moreover, the earthworm cleans the soil in which we grow food.
An earthworm is made up of muscles and the skin that covers them. They do not have lungs or a nose; they breathe through the pores of their skin. They have no eyes, but are very sensitive to the sun. They are hermaphrodites i.e. bisexual. An earthworm has from 5 to 9 hearts. 
There is an earthworm museum in Australia. It is an attraction, externally made identical to a 100-meter worm. Inside, everything is also made in the form of the insides of this animal. Worm lovers can walk and climb the passages inside on all fours. 
Many people believe that cutting an annelid in half will result in two worms. However, it is not. Only the part with the head will survive. The severed tail will die. The only one who can restore a full-fledged organism completely from an insignificant small part of itself is flatworm. As they say, divide and multiply. 
The largest worms on the planet are those living in Australia on the hills of Gippsland; they can grow up to 4 meters in length. 
Earthworms have the amazing ability to mate within hours. This feature makes them superior even to humans. One sexual act can last up to two hundred minutes! And research shows that during the mating season, worms “go” to each other’s holes up to fifteen times in a row. 
These worms, like some other animals, go into suspended animation during the winter and dry periods. They burrow deeper into the ground and hibernate. With the onset of warmth, the worms wake up and continue their activities of supplying the earth with the necessary substances, as if nothing had happened.
It turns out that the earthworm lives in groups, and also makes important decisions through “dialogue” with other cohabitants. 
According to some studies, they can communicate and influence the behavior of relatives through touch. This feature makes it possible to collectively decide where the entire herd should move. To summarize, we can say that the earthworm is a social animal that leads a group lifestyle. 
The flatworm is the causative agent of many diseases. He doesn't need oxygen to live; he gets everything he needs from his owner's orgasm. To such dangerous species include tapeworm, bovine tapeworm, and liver fluke. Not only do such worms cause harm to the body by their presence, they can grow over 20 meters in length and completely fill some organs of the host animal with their body. 
The life cycle of flatworms is also not small. For example, a prominent representative, the bovine tapeworm, can exist in the human body for over 18 years. Over its lifetime, this animal will produce more than 10 billion eggs. 
Flatworms, like many other worms, are hermaphrodites. Their mating process is the same: during the battle, each individual tries to sprinkle a little sperm under the skin of the enemy in order to subsequently become the parent of offspring. Some species of this worm have a very interesting reproduction process. The meeting between the two takes the form of fencing, using a dagger-shaped penis for penetration. 
Another amazing representative of this fauna is the earthworm. Hand on heart, we can say that it has existed since time immemorial, when dinosaurs inhabited the Earth. At that time it was “fashionable” to call everything that did not have legs a worm, be it a snake, or maggots, or even a dragon.
The earthworm is probably the slipperiest creature on the planet. There are representatives that reach a length of more than three meters. One such worm is the Australian earthworm Megascolides australis. But Driloleirus americanus from North America, although three times smaller in size, has a different record - it is capable of burrowing to a depth of more than 5 meters. 
He was also considered an extinct animal for a long time, but it turned out that he had been setting burying records all this time. Its body is pale pink in color and smells of lily. There is another representative of the earthworm, whose length exceeds one and a half meters. This is Spenceriella gigantea from New Zealand. Although he is not the longest, he has an interesting ability - his body glows in the dark. If you find it at night, you can use it instead of a flashlight. 
MATERIAL FOR INFORMATION STAND AND FOR USE IN CLASSROOM As a result of the activity of earthworms, the soil layers in the fields increase annually by an average of half a centimeter. Exactly earthworms are responsible for the fact that over time, ancient buildings, ancient castles and statues sink into the soil, from where archaeologists then dig them up. The weight of a herd of cows grazing in a meadow is less than the weight of worms crawling in the soil under their feet. The ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra declared earthworms sacred. Taking them out of Egypt was punishable by death. The lumps of processed earth that the earthworm secretes are called COPROLITES.
Cultivation of earthworms to improve soil fertility is called VERMICULTURE. Earthworms have developed sense touch and smell. Their skin contains sensory cells that allow them to distinguish light from dark. Earthworms have great muscular strength. They can drag pebbles and soil particles 20 times heavier than themselves. In case of danger, the earthworm secretes mucus with a special odor that warns other worms. Worms, like chickens, swallow small pebbles along with food so that the food is better crushed in the stomach. Australia is home to giant earthworms, which can reach 3 meters in length. 2
Earthworms (or earthworms) belong to the type of annelids, the class of oligochaetes. They live on all continents except Antarctica. Worms spend their entire lives deep in the soil, digging their tunnels in it. If the soil is loose, then the worm makes a move, “boring” between the lumps, and if it is hard, then the worm passes it through its intestines. During the day, the worm passes through itself an amount of soil equal to the weight of its body. Worms are most often found at a depth of 10-20 cm. But the length of their passages can reach 2 meters. And some types of worms dig holes to a depth of about 8 meters! The number of worms depends on the composition of the soil. On poor soils, about 10-20 worms live per square meter of land, while on rich soils the number of worms can be from 100 to 20,000. Worm burrows are of two types: regular burrows and permanent burrows. Regular moves worm 5
breaks through the ground, mainly in the process of feeding. The worm “eats” its way with its front end, and processed products immediately come out behind it, closing the passage behind itself. Permanent burrows remain for a long time. The worm strengthens the walls of the passage with a special mucous substance, and they become waterproof. It is these passages that benefit plants: through them, like through pipes, water and air penetrate deep into the soil. Earthworms also feed on plant foods. They grab it with their mouth, drag it into their burrow and eat it underground. In addition, they drag leaves and pieces of soil into their burrows to “clog” the entrance hole, just as we plug a bottle with a cork. This makes the worm holes less easy to spot and protects them from birds. 6
During the day, earthworms like to rest near the entrance to the hole, securing themselves there with their bristles, so that in case of any danger they can instantly be drawn inside. Earthworms are nocturnal animals. They avoid daylight and only emerge from their burrows at night. But when it rains, you can often see them coming to the surface en masse during the day. That is why they were given the name “earthworms”. The reason for this behavior is still unknown to scientists. There is a hypothesis that, although a worm can live in water for several weeks, the water, flooding the burrows of the worms, prevents them from breathing normally and they have to come to the surface. Another hypothesis says that the sound of raindrops causes fear in worms because 7
resembles the sound of the footsteps of their worst enemy - the mole. And this fear drives the worms out of their holes. In addition, some scientists believe that worms simply use wet weather to move not underground, but along its surface - because this significantly saves their energy. With the onset of drought or cold weather, the worms go deep into the ground, to a depth of about 2 meters, and hibernate there. They sleep in a specially dug sleeping chamber, curled up into a ball. Worms have an amazing ability to regenerate: if the back part of a worm’s body is torn off, then after some time the damaged half will be restored. Moles take advantage of these, stockpiling worms for future use. The moles bite off the heads of the worms, and put the bodies in storerooms, where they are kept fresh, busy restoring the lost part of the body. 8
Earthworms, eating organic debris, serve as “orderlies” of the soil, converting tons of dead organic material accumulated on its surface into substances available for plant nutrition. In their stomachs, the food eaten is mixed with the soil, enriched with nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, magnesium, potassium and excreted in crushed form. Special glands in the digestive tract of the worm reduce the acidity of the soil resulting from the decomposition of organic matter. Thus, worms turn the earth into humus - organic fertilizer. These are real biofactories for the production of fertilizers! 9
Earthworms play a huge role in preparing the soil for plant life. No wonder they are called “plowmen” and “little plows.” Worm burrows help water and air penetrate deep into the soil. Worm coprolites give the soil looseness and provide its structure for the growth and nutrition of roots. Earthworms play an important role in the nutrition of animals and birds. Being a protein-rich product, they can be used as food additives in poultry farms. And in some countries, worms are also used as food by people. In our country, earthworms are most often used by fishermen as bait for catching fish. 10
If the soil is loose and pliable, then the worm drills into it. To do this, the worm makes its front end thin, “feels” with it for some gap among the lumps of earth, plunges its “head” there, and then this front end of the worm contracts and becomes thick. This causes the earth to move apart, allowing the worm’s body to crawl through “one step at a time.” And then everything repeats itself again. Sometimes he resorts to another method: he tears off pieces of earth with his lips and swallows it. It swallows to the limit and crawls to the surface of the earth, onto which it throws out the soil that has passed through the intestines. But on the way to the dungeon they came across particularly dense and dry soil - the worm moistens it with drops of saliva. A piece of soil gets wet and the worm swallows it. eleven
1. Earthworms are hermaphrodites. That is, they are both female and male at the same time. But they still need two individuals to reproduce. Before laying eggs, the worms join in pairs and exchange seminal fluid with each other, after which they disperse. 2. After this, the worm's belt secretes viscous mucus - a muff. The sperm of another worm gets into it. 3. The worm, contracting, pushes the muff to the front end of the body, laying eggs in it, which are fertilized there. 4. Having slipped off the worm, the muff remains in the burrow and hardens in the air, forming a cocoon. Eggs develop in it. 5. After 18-25 days, small worms emerge from the eggs. 12
Compiled by: Sharlay N.A. 13
Earthworms are truly contemporary with dinosaurs. They appeared 120 million years ago, while the human race is only 250,000 years old. In ancient times, it was customary to call almost every creature a “worm” if it turned out to be legless; be it a caterpillar, larva or snake. This is how dragons were called worms in Anglo-German folklore.
The well-known Charles Darwin, more than 100 years ago, spent 39 years studying earthworms. One of the slimiest creatures in the world is the earthworm.
There are about 2,700 species of earthworms.
Australian species Megascolides australis - can reach more than 3 meters in length. These large earthworms are also known for the fact that when they bury themselves in the ground, they make gurgling sounds.
The nemertean marine worm Lineus longissimus is the longest worm. Proof of this is a 55-meter-long specimen that was discovered on the coast of Scotland in 1864.
The African earthworm Microchaetus rappi, although it grows to almost 7 meters, weighs only 1.5 kg.
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New Zealand worm Spenceriella gigantea, whose length is 1.5 meters maximum. This species is not gigantic in size, but it can be used to read a book in the dark, as it glows.
The meter-long North American palus worm Driloleirus americanus, long considered extinct, has the ability to burrow to a depth of 5 m. It is pale pink in color and smells of lilies.
In 2005, Norwegian scientists proved that worms placed on a hook feel absolutely no pain or discomfort.
Worms can become a source of human immortality, since scientists recently discovered the pha-4 gene in worms, a variety of Nematodes, which slows down the aging of the human body.
To survive after heavy rains, worms crawl out of the ground.
In the soil, the number of earthworms can reach up to 400 individuals per square meter. Two earthworms can clean and process up to 1kg. soil per day.
Worms are “hermaphrodites,” which allows them to reproduce either with a partner or on their own.
If an earthworm is cut in half, it will survive and repair itself. Since he has a certain number of sets of vital organs. If you cut a worm off center, the only thing left to live will be most of. Well, if you cut a worm into several parts, it will die.
We often find worms on the asphalt after rain or in the garden. Worms are a very interesting animal species to study. This large class has amazing features, and their way of life has not yet been sufficiently studied. Here are some interesting facts about worms.
Marine life
Ringed
Annelids are made up of large quantity segments in the form of rings, hence the name. Habitats: on the ground, in salty sea water and rivers.
One type of annelid worm, leeches, is actively used in medicine. Leeches drink blood in places where it is needed. Leeches are used to treat hematomas and are used for hypertension and blood thickening. Leeches secrete a substance that thins the blood, so they can get enough faster, and time is very important, because the victim can notice them and then this annelid may not be happy.
These funny aquatic animals have an anesthetic ingredient in their saliva that prevents you from feeling the moment of the bite. This allows you to quietly drink blood from animals that enter the water to drink.
Rain
The earthworm is very interesting view. In structure, it is simply a group of muscles in soft skin. He breathes throughout the entire surface of his body. Up to 9 hearts beat inside him. The opinion that if you cut a worm, there will be two living halves is wrong. The head part will continue to live, and the second, tail, will die.
The earthworm is very slippery, one might even say that it is the slipperiest animal. It is covered with thick mucus, which helps it move through burrows; it can live at a depth of up to five meters. They live in complete darkness, so they have no organs of vision, but they are perfectly oriented by touch.
This representative of the worm class is quite amazing and useful. Small rodents and fish readily feed on earthworms. As an excellent source of pure protein, worms serve as food for animals and people (people can eat them in extreme conditions when there is no other food).
For gardeners, worms are invisible helpers who actively loosen the soil through their numerous tunnels. At night, the worms crawl to the surface to feed. It has been established that earthworms are good at cleaning the soil from organic remains and making the soil fertile.
IN winter time years or in case of drought, the worms hibernate, burrowing deep into the soil. Earthworms live in colonies. Scientific research has shown that they can be classified as social animals that lead a group lifestyle.
Flat
These individuals can live in the human body for almost twenty years. Over the years it will lay millions of eggs. Once in the ground, eggs can live in difficult natural conditions for many years.
There are many ways to treat worms. One of them is a decoction of wormwood. It is effective, since wormwood is quite toxic, but it has two drawbacks - the worms may not die, but may escape from the action of wormwood, spreading where they cannot be reached by this bitter decoction. Another, more serious drawback is that wormwood is very toxic and in relation to the person himself, you can be seriously poisoned or even die by consuming too much wormwood decoction.
