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Do worms eat and have mouths? — Wrigley, 11, South Carolina

Dear Wrigley,

It can be hard to relate to animals that look very different from me—like squirmy worms.

I asked my friend Cynthia Gleason about your question. She studies a specific kind of worm at Washington State University.

Those worms are called nematodes or roundworms. They have unsegmented, smooth bodies. Most nematodes are so small you need a microscope to see them—and their teeny tiny mouths.

There are gobs of nematodes.

“They’re the most abundant of all the multicellular organisms on Earth,” Gleason said. “If you pick up a handful of soil, there could be thousands of roundworms there.”

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