Circulatory:
The earthworm has a dual circulatory system, meaning that its coelom and circulatory system carry food, respiratory gasses, and waste. Its closed circulatory system has five main blood vessels: the dorsal vessel, then ventral vessel, and the subneural vessel, and the 2 lateronueral vessels. The dorsal vessel moves blood to the head, while the other 4 move blood to the rear. In segments, the vessels arch around the coelom and act as "hearts", pumping the blood to the ventral vessel that acts as the aorta. The second circulatory system enables that digestive cells release non-living cells of fat into the coelom, where they float freely and pass to food to parts of the body to assist in wound healing.
Digestive:
The digestive tract is one straight tube from mouth to anus. Food enters through the mouth, then the pharynx acts as a suction pump as the muscular walls movie food. As food moves to the esophagus, calcium is pumped to maintain proper blood calcium levels. The food is then moved into the gizzard which helps muscular contractions grind up the food. The food continues onto the intestine where the food is exposed to pepsin and digestive proteins to breakdown the food even further. The earthworm's intestine begins to increase the surface area to increase nutrient absorption by have many folds running along its length.
Reproductive:
Since Earthworms are hermaphrodites, they have both female and male reproductive organs. The sexual organs are located around segments 9-15 of the worm. Earthworms have one or two pairs of testes with two or four pairs of seminal vesicles to produce sperm through segment 15. The ovaries and oviducts are located in segments 13, which they release their eggs through their female pores in segment 14. Once two earthworms meet each other, the couple overlap each other to exchange sperm. Afterwards, the worms split apart and a cocoon forms around the clitellum. The worm backs out of the ring, injects the other worm's sperm into the eggs, and the cocoon seals a lemon-shaped incubator around itself. The offspring hatch as small, but fully autonomous worms
The earthworm has a dual circulatory system, meaning that its coelom and circulatory system carry food, respiratory gasses, and waste. Its closed circulatory system has five main blood vessels: the dorsal vessel, then ventral vessel, and the subneural vessel, and the 2 lateronueral vessels. The dorsal vessel moves blood to the head, while the other 4 move blood to the rear. In segments, the vessels arch around the coelom and act as "hearts", pumping the blood to the ventral vessel that acts as the aorta. The second circulatory system enables that digestive cells release non-living cells of fat into the coelom, where they float freely and pass to food to parts of the body to assist in wound healing.
Digestive:
The digestive tract is one straight tube from mouth to anus. Food enters through the mouth, then the pharynx acts as a suction pump as the muscular walls movie food. As food moves to the esophagus, calcium is pumped to maintain proper blood calcium levels. The food is then moved into the gizzard which helps muscular contractions grind up the food. The food continues onto the intestine where the food is exposed to pepsin and digestive proteins to breakdown the food even further. The earthworm's intestine begins to increase the surface area to increase nutrient absorption by have many folds running along its length.
Reproductive:
Since Earthworms are hermaphrodites, they have both female and male reproductive organs. The sexual organs are located around segments 9-15 of the worm. Earthworms have one or two pairs of testes with two or four pairs of seminal vesicles to produce sperm through segment 15. The ovaries and oviducts are located in segments 13, which they release their eggs through their female pores in segment 14. Once two earthworms meet each other, the couple overlap each other to exchange sperm. Afterwards, the worms split apart and a cocoon forms around the clitellum. The worm backs out of the ring, injects the other worm's sperm into the eggs, and the cocoon seals a lemon-shaped incubator around itself. The offspring hatch as small, but fully autonomous worms