WORMS Chapter 27: I - Flatworms

WORMS Chapter 27
I – FLATWORMS
 Phylum Platyhelminthes
 Characteristics: soft, flattened worms that have tissues and internal organ systems; have bilateral
symmetry; and cephalization
 They are acoelomates (do not have a coelum). A coelum is a fluid-filled cavity that is lined with tissue)
 Respiration, Circulation, and Excretion- they rely on diffusion.
 Feeding: free-living flatworms can be carnivores or scavengers; parasitic worms feed on blood, tissue
fluids or pieces of cells within a host’s body. Ex: tapeworms.
 Response: Free-living flatworms have ganglia (a group of nerve cells that control the nervous system);
also have an eyespot that detects changes in the amount of light.
 Movement: Use (1) cilia and (2) muscle cells
 Reproduction: most are hermaphrodites that reproduce sexually by exchanging sperm. (Hermaphrodites
have both male and female reproductive organs); some reproduce asexually by fission where the organism
splits in two and each half grows new parts to become a complete organism.
 Groups of Flatworms:
(1) Turbellaria – free-living – most live in marine or fresh water.
(2) Flukes – Class Tremetoda – parasitic- infect the internal organs of their host.
(3) Tapeworms- Class Cestoda – long, flat, parasitic- live inside of intestines of the host.
Tapeworm life cycle
II—ROUNDWORMS
 Phylum Nematoda
 Characteristics: slender, un-segmented with tapered ends, most are free-living, some are parasitic, and
live in plants and animals; have pseudocoelum (false coelum).
 Digestive Tract: Two openings – Mouth and anus
(A) Free-living roundworms

 Free-living roundworms are more complex than parasitic roundworms.
 Feeding: Free-living are predators that use grasping mouth parts and spines to catch and eat other small
animals.
 Respiration, Circulation, and Excretion: They exchange gases and excrete metabolic waste through
their body walls. They have no internal transport system and therefore depend on diffusion to carry
nutrients and waste through their bodies.
 Response: have a simple nervous system
 Movement: have muscles that extend the length of their body
 Reproduction: sexually – there are separate sexes and fertilization take place internally in the female.
(B) Parasitic roundworms
(1) Trichinosis-causing worms are in the intestines of their hosts (rats and pigs); humans get them by eating
raw or incompletely cooked pork.
(2) Filarial worms – found in tropical regions of Asia; live in blood and lymph vessels of birds and
mammals; transmitted through mosquitoes and other biting insects.
(3) Ascarid worms- cause malnutrition because they live in the small intestine and absorb the host’s food;
spread by eating vegetables that have not been properly washed.
(4) Hookworms – can enter unprotected feet and burrow into the skin and then enter the bloodstream; they
make their way through the lungs and into the intestines where they cause weakness and poor growth.
Roundworm
III- ANNELIDS (EARTHWORMS)
 Phylum Annelida
 Characteristics: Body is divided into segments; have bristles called setae and have a true coelum
 Digestive Tract: two openings – mouth and anus
 Feeding: range from filter feeders to predators
 Circulation: have a closed circulatory system in which the blood is contained within a network of blood
vessels.
 Respiration: Aquatic annelids breathe through gills; land-dwelling annelids take in Oxygen and give off
Carbon dioxide through their moist skin.
 Excretion: Produce two kinds of waste:
(1) Digestive waste passes through the anus
(2) Cellular waste is eliminated by nephridia (excretory organ that filters fluid in the coelum)
 Response: have a well developed nervous system – includes a brain and several nerve cords.
 Movement: 2 major body muscles that function as part of a hydrostatic skeleton.
(1) longitudinal muscles – from front to rear
(2) circular muscles – wrap around each segment
 Reproduction: most reproduce sexually – some have separate sexes while some are hermaphrodites; they
do not fertilize their own eggs (they exchange sperm)
 Groups of Annelids:
(1) Class Oligochaeta – earthworms and relatives
(2) Leeches – Class Hirdinea – parasites that suck blood and body fluids
(3) Class Polychaeta – marine annelids that have paired paddle-like appendages tipped with setae.
Earthworm body
IV – MOLLUSKS
 Phylum Mollusca
 Characteristics: soft-bodied animals that usually have an internal or external shell. Examples: snails,
slugs, clams, squid and octopi.
 Many aquatic mollusks have a free-swimming larval stage called a trocophore.
 Body Plan: Four body parts: (1) foot (2) mantle (3) shell and (4) visceral mass.
(1) Foot – fro crawling, burrowing and tentacles for capturing prey
(2) Mantle – thin layer of tissue that covers most of the mollusk’s body
(3) Shell – made by glands in the mantle that secretes calcium carbonate.
(4) Visceral mass – consists of the internal organs.
 Feeding: can be herbivores, carnivores, filter-feeders, detrivores, or parasites.

 Respiration: Aquatic mollusks use gills inside their mantle cavity.
Land snails and slugs do not have gills and breathe using a mantel cavity that ha a large surface
area lined with blood vessels.
 *Circulation: Mollusks have open or closed circulatory systems. Slow moving mollusks (snails and
clams) have open circulatory system. Faster-moving octopi and squid have a closed circulatory system.
*A closed circulatory system if much more efficient and quicker
 Response: Vary through out mollusks
o Clams and other two-shelled mollusks have a simple nervous system.
o Octopi and their relatives are active intelligent predators that have the most highly developed
nervous system of all invertebrates.
 Movement: many different ways—Snails secrete mucus – Octopi use a form of jet propulsion.
 Reproduction: Many snails and two-shelled mollusks reproduce sexually by external fertilization –
Tentacled mollusks and certain snails reproduce sexually by internal fertilization – Some
mollusks are hermaphrodites.
 Groups of Mollusks:
(1) Gastropods (class Gastropoda)
a. Pond snails, land slugs, sea butterflies, sea hares
b. Shell-less or single shelled mollusks that move by using a muscular foot located on the ventral
side
(2) Bivalves (class Bivalvia)

a. Have two shells that are held together by one or two powerful muscles.
b. Scallops, clams, oysters, mussels
(3) Cephalopods (class Cephalopoda)
a. Most active mollusks
b. Octopi, squid, cuttlefishes, nautiluses
c. Soft-bodied mollusks in which the head is attached to a single foot. The foot is divided into
tentacles or arms.
Gastropod (Snail) Bivalve (Clam) Cephalopod (Squid)

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WORMS Chapter 27

Tapeworm life cycle

(A) Free-living roundworms

III- ANNELIDS (EARTHWORMS)

 Feeding: can be herbivores, carnivores, filter-feeders, detrivores, or parasites.

(2) Bivalves (class Bivalvia)

Gastropod (Snail) Bivalve (Clam) Cephalopod (Squid)

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