At the beginning of the study of biology, many students are asked the question: "What makes the body of a flatworm move?" Naturally, most of them cannot even give a correct answer to this difficult riddle.
General information
Flatworms are one of the many amazing representatives of our planet and its unique nature. Most flatworms are categorized as predators. Some flatworms also prefer a comfortable life inside a human or animal body over free-swimming.
Getting into the body of a living being, such worms cause ailments and various diseases. The sizes of such worms are also very ambiguous. Some individuals are only one to two millimeters long, while others can grow to twenty meters in length.
It would seem that there simply can't be anything interesting in worms. Huge information about them can be provided to everyone by biology (type - flatworms). Description and all useful information about them is widely presented inmany study guides on the subject.
How a flatworm moves
So what makes a flatworm's body move?
- Free-living flatworms can either crawl or swim. Such movement occurs due to the skin-muscular sac and cilia. Due to the contraction of various muscle groups, worm-like movements occur.
- Worms belonging to the parasitic class can move using suckers during their movement.
- What drives the body of a flatworm belonging to the category of tapeworms? Their body is very flexible, besides it is covered with a large number of cilia. That's where the band's name comes from. Due to their structure, these worms can move not only directly due to the constant contraction of their muscles, but also due to the beating of their many cilia.
- It is worth noting that the flatworm's body is set in motion by a large number of suction cups located on its body, thanks to which it can stick to the ground and pull its body up, as caterpillars usually do.
Interesting facts about flatworms
All flatworms have one unusual feature that distinguishes them from other creatures in nature - this is their ability to turn their body inside out. Some worms that have settled in the body of a living being can grow intosizes up to twenty-two meters. It is not even worth arguing that this is not only an amazing fact, but also a terrible one at the same time.
All flatworms have the ability to regenerate. From one small piece of such a worm, one full-fledged individual of this species may well develop. Under adverse conditions, all planetariums, which include tapeworms, can break into separate pieces. As soon as the conditions for their life become normal again, the worm returns to its previous form.
A riddle for scientists around the world
Many scientists for quite a long period of time racked their brains over an organism that differed from all the others in its cruciform shape. After a certain period of time, this riddle was solved. It turned out that the animal, which has two heads and two tails, is two worms that tightly stuck to each other.
Of course, there are not so many amazing facts about these worms, but they are. Even though small animals are much less mysterious than their larger counterparts, they are also important and needed by nature.
Flatworms bring not only harm to a person, but also invaluable benefits, so you need to be interested in them. You should know what sets the body of a flatworm in motion.