Earth Worm Classification Annelid By Max Rankin

General Information Annelids are found in water and damp places on land. There are 2700 different kinds of earth worms found all over the world. They are invertebrates (no back bone). They have a brain, 5 hearts and parts inside their body that help them breath. The smallest earth worm is 1cm long and the largest can grow up to 4 metres. Australia has one of the largest earth worms called the Giant Gippsland Earthworm. Earth worms can be brown, pink or red and even blue.

Habitat Earth worms can live anywhere in the world where there is moist soil. They cannot exist in the deserts as there is no soil and not enough moisture.

Diet Earth worms eat soil and the plant matter such as leaf litter that is in it. The soil and leaf litter pass through their bodies starting at one end of the worm where the food enters and then to the other end where the waste leaves.

Importance to humans Earth worms let air and water into the soil. This stop erosion and helps plants to grow. Their waste is called castings and is an excellent fertiliser. Earth worms are so important to humans that we farm them to use their castings as fertiliser.

Other Annelids Leeches like worms are found in damp places on land and therefore are in the same phylum. However leeches can attach to a human being. In the 19 th century leeches were commonly used to take blood from people and were thought to cure many illnesses. It takes around 10hours for a leech bite to stop bleeding because the leeches saliva has a chemical that stops blood from clotting. Rag worms are in the phylum Annelid because they also live in sea or fresh water. They only grow to 90cm but may have more than 200 body segments. They eat worms and other tiny sea animals.