Worms

Worms are a type of minibeast called an annelid. Annelids are creatures that are all squishy! They are invertebrates so don’t have a skeleton inside their body, but unlike most minibeasts they don’t have an exoskeleton either.

Worms have long bodies, many of which are made up by lots of sections. They don’t have any legs. Most also don’t have any antennae, although a few species do. They don’t have any eyes so can’t see, although they have some sense of light and dark. They can sense the world around them using vibrations.

Worms move by squashing and expanding their bodies, so they get longer and shorter as they move along. They often have small bristles on their body that help them to grip surfaces and move along easier.

Worms prefer damp micro habitats and can be found living under rocks and logs for example. They can also be found in much wetter environments such as riverbeds or even be living underwater. Worms need to live in damp conditions as they breathe through their skin, which needs to stay moist to absorb oxygen from the air.

All worms hatch out of an egg, starting as a tiny worm and then growing bigger. How long they live depends on their species but incredibly some can live for up to ten years!

An Earthworm

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This is called an earthworm pile or. Piles created by earthworm poo! Have you ever seen one of these?

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Earthworms

The type of worm you are most likely to see is an Earthworm. They can be found all over the world, living in soil. Another word for soil is earth. They usually are underground but when it rains they come closer to the surface. This is because if it gets too wet earthworms might drown.

Earthworms are segmented worms which means their bodies are split into sections or rings. They usually grow to be between about two and fifteen centimetres long, although some species can be much longer. Some species can be metres long in fact. The longest earthworm ever found was a species called the African Giant Earthworm. They are usually about one and a half metres long, but one was found and measured to be just over six and a half metres long!

Earthworms are very important for plants and crops. This is because they don’t eat living things, they eat plant and animal matter, stuff that has already died. Earthworms then poo out a rich soil that is great for plants to grow in. Earthworms also create tunnels that allow air and water to reach plant roots as they move around the soil.

Earthworms have many predators. Their lack of exoskeleton make them very easy prey. Birds, hedgehogs and badgers for example like to eat earthworms, as do some other minibeasts, such as beetles and centipedes.

A long Earthworm going back underground.

Julian Zwengel - Unsplash Image

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