1. Coulter

2.  Biologists classify worms into three major phyla:  flatworms, belong to the phyla Platyhelminthes (plat ee hel minth eez)  Roundworms, belong to the phyla Nematoda  Segmented worms, belong to the phyla Annelida

3.  All worms are invertebrates  Long narrow bodies without legs  They all have tissue, organs, and body system

4.  Worms are the simplest organism with a brain.  Because its brain and other sense organs are located in its head, it can detect objects, food, mates, and predators quickly.  Sense organs are sensitive to light, touch and vibrations pick up information from the environment.

5.  Flatworms are flat and as soft as jelly.  Many flat worms are parasites. Parasite is an organism that lives inside or on another organism.  Parasites take their food from the host. Host is an organism in or on which a parasite lives.  Parasites may injure their host but rarely kill the host.  Some flatworms are free living, does not live in or on other organisms.

6.  Free-living flatworms.  They are scavengers (they feed on dead or decaying material).  They are also predators and will attack an animal that is smaller.  Feeds like a vacuum cleaner.  Planarians glide onto their food, insert a feed tube, inject the prey with digestive juices, then suck up the digested portion.

7.  Parasitic flatworm  Can get 10 to 12 meters long  Tapeworms absorb food from the hosts digestive system.  Some tapeworms can live in human hosts.  Many tapeworms can live in more than one host in its lifetime.

8.  Roundworms have a digestive system that is like a tube, open at both ends.  A one-way digestive system is efficient. Its like a conveyer belt; start where food enters, nutrients are absorbed, then remaining is wasted.  This type of digestive system enables animal’s body to absorb a large amount of food.

9.  Earthworms and other segmented worms have bodies made up of many linked sections called segments.  On the inside each segment has organs. For example each segment has tubes that remove waste.  Some organs are only found in certain segments.  All segmented worms have a nerve cord and digestive tube that runs the length of the body.  They have a one way digestive system.

10.  Circulatory system is closed.  Much like the human body the blood moves in a closed circulatory system.

11.  Earthworms tunnel for a living.  During rainy days they come up out of the ground to get leaves and other decaying matter that they will bring under ground and eat.  Earthworms obtain oxygen through moisture on its skin.  Earthworms help the soil in which plants grow. They burrow tunnels which allow air, water and plant roots to move through it.