Earthworms know a thing or two about romance. They cozy up with a mate inside tubes of slime, then follow a series of intricate steps to make cocoons full of baby worms.
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You can tell an earthworm is ready to mate once it has grown a fleshy patch called a clitellum.
When it sidles up to another earthworm, their bodies point in opposite directions, and the worms surround each other with tubes of slime exuded from their skin.
The earthworms embrace by using flaps on their clitella, and exchange sperm that travels outside their bodies. As they snuggle, the sperm flows into internal storage sacs.
After mating, an earthworm produces a sheath with its clitellum that it shimmies down its body. The protein-rich ring moves over tiny holes, where it gathers eggs and some of the collected sperm. Then, the ring slips off the worm to become a cocoon with one or more developing earthworms inside.
--- How do earthworms help the soil?
Earthworms eat tiny bits of degraded plants, which have bacteria and fungi growing on them. This organic matter might be in the soil or in leaf litter on the surface. Some earthworms eat manure. When they poop out the remains, earthworms make nutrients like nitrogen available for plants to grow.
And the earthworms that live underground spread around their nutritious poop, known as castings.
“Subsoil comes up to the top, topsoil goes down towards the middle or bottom,” said Sam James, who studies earthworms at the University of Iowa. “And you can see the difference in colors of these two layers of soil.”
Earthworms also create channels in the soil through which air and water can move, he added.
--- What is worm composting?
Earthworms such as the species Eisenia fetida can be kept in a bin and fed certain types of food scraps. Using earthworms to dispose of leftovers in this way is also known as vermicomposting.
--- Can earthworms reproduce without sex?
Yes. Some earthworms can reproduce on their own, through a process called parthenogenesis. These earthworms are all mothers - they don’t make sperm, only eggs. Their offspring develop from eggs that divide into identical copies.
“They just clone themselves,” James said. “So what it means is a single individual can start a new population.”
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