Happy Thursday everyone 💜 your favourite shark wormy is back and this time he isn’t eating algae but trying to eat this air bubble that got trapped under the cover slip! 😂 isn’t he adorable?
Can you see how this aquatic oligochaete worm is everting the muscular roof of his pharynx as a way to pull the bubble inside his mouth? That’s one hell of a special trick!
Aquatic Oligochaete worms like this long boi are usually pretty thin and small, generally measuring 1 mm but can reach up to a couple centimetres. These worms are mainly decomposers, which means that they feed on decaying organic matter but some also feed on algae, small protozoans like ciliates and some even prey on other worms 😱 Oligochaetes living at the bottom of the water column also helps mixing and oxygenating benthic substrates by borrowing!
Oligochaete worms are segmented animals, meaning that their body is made of small repetitive units and all of them possess a pair of primitive kidneys and components of circulatory and nervous system. Primitive kidneys are essential to remove wastes from blood and coelom. The different segments also bear a pair of bristles, also called setae, which are use to anchor the worm when moving around. But to move around so easily by crawling on surfaces also means muscles are needed! Circular and longitudinal muscles are here to help M. Wormy to lengthen and contract all of his segments to be able to stretch forward and eat all of the algae!
Soundtrack was brought to you by beat master @arithmetikmusiq ✨
Video taken with my iPhone mounted on my BA310E Motic microscope with an @ilabcam adapter 🔬 @moticamericas
References:
Brinkhurst, R. O., & Gelder, S. R. (2001). Annelida: Oligochaeta, including Branchiobdellidae. Ecology and classification of North American freshwater invertebrates, 2, 431-463
Pinder, A. M., & Ohtaka, A. (2004). Annelida: Clitellata, Oligochaeta. Freshwater invertebrates of the Malaysian region. Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 162-174.
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