How do worms reproduce?
2006-10-14 02:13:23 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Entertainment & Music ➔ Music
Link 1) Most of them have distinct sexes, but earthworms are hermaphrodites, that is, they are simultaneously male and female. However, they do not fertilize themselves, they require the presence of a partner to get the development going. Other worms, especially those living in the oceans, simply release out eggs and sperm in the water where the early part of development takes place. Some worms have very sharply focused periods when reproduction takes place.
Link 2) Earthworms are hermaphroditic, both male and female at the same time. When they mate, each gives and receives sperm cells, and both have offspring. But some worms have ones that are males only.
Link 3 (with picture) Although some aquatic oligochaetes reproduce asexually, the majority are sexual, and all are hermaphrodites. At mating, two oligochaetes lie side by side so that the head of one is opposite the tail of the other. Sperm then pass reciprocally into small sacs, where they are temporarily stored. This transfer is more complex in the earthworms, however, because the respective male pores are not in direct opposition; each individual forms a temporary skin canal through which the sperm flow to their respective sacs for storage. After the eggs have matured, a mucous tube, secreted from the clitellum, slides along the body as the worm moves backward. The stored sperm are discharged into this tube, as are the eggs when the tube slides along the section containing them. As the worm literally passes out of the tube, a mucous, lemon-shaped cocoon forms around the now-fertilized eggs. This cocoon serves as a kind of primitive nest, in which the young hatch.
2006-10-14 02:16:34 · answer #1 · answered by ? 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
they are hermaphrodites
2006-10-14 09:19:21 · answer #2 · answered by FLOYD 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋