California Red Worm
HUMU0009
The red worm is microphagous, that is, it feeds on fungi. It has an elongated, segmented body and an intense red color in its upper part and lighter in the lower part, slightly flattened. Adult animals have a thicker ring in the back of the body that is the reproductive system, the clitellus, where the cocones (cocoons) and the content that will feed the small worms inside are produced. They lack eyes but have light-sensitive cells throughout the body.
The California worm lives just over 4 years. It reproduces more than once a week. From each coupling there are 2 coconuts (one from each individual) containing each cocon from 2 to 4 worms. The cocones are abandoned by the parents, remaining in the culture medium of the worms and left to their fate. The worms reproduce practically all the year.
The small worms remain in the coconut for a variable time, which depends on the prevailing temperature, the development being optimal between 20 and 25║, which corresponds to a permanence of 14 to 44 days. In the coconut they feed on the secretions provided by the clitellum when mating takes place.
