The slimy little, yet VERY important Earthworm

Well, I must say that Im not to fond of earthworms.. I remember being a little kid and always having to put them on a hook to fish with and as I got older and older they got grosser and grosser.

Regardless of how I feel Earth worms are a very important part of our environment, they help to break down organic matter. Within this process the earthworm leaves behind their waste, but it is good waste! The waste contains nurtrients, this nutrients plants use to grow big and healthy.

Earth worms belong to the animal kingdom, and there are a lot of really interesting things that i learned while reading about them. The body of an earthworm is a tube, the digestive system, within a tube, the muscular slimy, moist outer body. They actually have NO BACKBONE! I guess that is why they can take any shape they want. Earthworms are hermaphrodites, they typically have two pairs of testes, surrounded by 2 pairs of testes sacs. There are 2 or 4 pairs of seminal vesicles which produce, store and release the sperm via the male pores, and ovaries and ovipores in segment 13 that release eggs via female pores on segment 14. However, most also have one or more pairs of spermathecas (depending on the species) that are internal sacs which receive and store sperm from the other worm in copulation.

There are soo many different species of earthworms and a lot of cool facts about them pertaining to why they are classified in certain ways. They are classified on the way that they adapt to different climates and different soils. Although native to Europe, earthworms are found throughout North America and western Asia. They do not live in deserts or regions where there is permafrost or permanent snow and ice.

Typically only a few inches (7 or 8 centimeters) long, some members of this species have been known to grow to a snake-like 14 inches (35 centimeters). Earthworms' bodies are made up of ring-like segments called annuli. These segments are covered in setae, or small bristles, which the worm uses to move and burrow.

They are often called night crawlers because they are often seen feeding above ground at night. Said to be shy of the light, they burrow during the day and stay close to the surface, but they can dig down in the soil as deep as 6.5 feet (2 meters).

When I was reading i came across this fact and HAD to share it.. IT IS CRAZY! "As they move through the soil, their tunnels aerate the ground. An earthworm can eat up to one third its body weight in a day. That would be equal to a 75-pound (34.1-kilogram) youngster eating 25 pounds (11.4 kilograms) of food in one day!"

Have you ever noticed that after a storm there are a lot of earthworms found all over the surface of the ground, this is because a storm may flood the soil with excessive water. However, if the surface where they find themselves is unexpectedly paved, rocky, or compacted (hardened), they may become stranded, potentially suffering injury or death from causes such as heat, exposure, dehydration, or predation. Note, there are some earthworm species that can survive for several days in water if it is sufficiently oxygenated!
Earthworms cannot maintain a steady body temperature like humans or dogs or cattle.This means their respiration rate rises with increasing temperature. Increasing respiration rates mean increased metabolic rates which means increased energy requirements which means increased feeding rates by worms or food must be "stolen" from reserves in the worms' own body tissues. The reverse is true for decreasing temperatures.

Earthworms are a source of food for numerous animals, like birds, rats, and toads, and are frequently used in composting and as bait in commercial and recreational fishing. Their numbers are strong throughout their range—they're even considered agricultural pests in some areas—and they have no special status.