Do worms eat and have mouths? — Wrigley, 11, South Carolina
melissamayerDear 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.”
» More …