Annelids

On Friday my class and I had the opportunity of dissecting an earthworm! Unfortunately James and I were not the best at using the scalpel, we think it was dull, but we cut open the intestine. The intestine, being cut opened, oozed dirt everywhere making it hard to see some of the organs. Though. Did our best we sure did make a mess if the worm. Though the cold, wet worm was a little gross I look forward to the future dissection!

(as my partner and I did not have a camera, I will be getting my photos from classmates or the internet many photos borrowed from the great man that is Shaineel Sharma )

1. The name of the pumping organ in the earthworm is pumping vessels, the hearts.

2. Food enters the earthworm through the mouth. After the mouth the food travels to the pharynx, then the esophagus. The food will soon enough reach the gizzard then the intestines where it is excreated through the anus.

3. The earth worm's cerebral ganglia serves as the worms head, and is attached to the rest of the body by a long nerve cord.

4. The only part of the excretion system my group saw were the intestines and anus, as we were not the handiest with the razor.

   5.  One may find out if an earthworm eat dirt by cutting it open.

 6. The earthworms setae are bristles that greatly aid in it's locomotion, as it lets it extend it's body in the desired direction.

7. The gizzard is in large part the adaptation that allows the worm to remove food from ingested dirt.

8.  I would continue to see more digestive system if we continued the dissection past segment 32.

9. Earthworms are hermaphrodites meaning that they both have male and female gametes. The earth worms reproduce by fertilizing the others eggs while in turn their own are being simultaneously fertilized.