Earthworm brightfield photomicrograph, Lumbricus Annelida oligochaeta, stained longitudinal section showing internal structures
An earthworm is a tube-shaped, segmented animal that is commonly found living in soil, feeding on live and dead organic matter, the digestive system runs straight through its body. It conducts respiration through its skin, and it has a twin transport system composed of coelomic fluid that moves within the liquid filled coelom and a simple, closed blood circulatory system. It has a central and peripheral nervous system, this consists of a central system of two ganglia above the mouth, one on either side, connected to a nerve chord running back along its length to motor neurons and sensory cells in each segment. Large numbers of chemoreceptors are concentrated near its mouth. Circumfrential and longitudinal muscles on the periphery of each segment enable the worm to move. Similar sets of muscles line the gut and whose actions move the digesting food toward the worms anus.[2] Earthworms are hermaphrodites—each individual carries both male and female sex organs. As an invertebrate it lacks a skeleton, but an earthworm maintains its structure with fluid-filled coelom chambers that function as a hydrostatic skeleton.
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Photo credit: © Scenics & Science / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: annelida, brightfield, conditioner, earthworm, fertile, gardening, internal, longitudinal, lumbricus, megadrile, oligochaeta, organic, photomicrograph, section, showing, soil, stained, structures
