(I’m not advocating violence against worms. I like and protect them, they’re good for my garden. This question has been bugging me for a while and it doesn’t make sense. )

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[–] 37 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

No, it's a myth.

Only one of the two halves would survives (the one with the head) but it's also possible that neither half would survive depending where the cut where made.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago

    I remember waaay back at school, we had to perform some tasks on animals, one being live planarias. You could cut the head in half, and get a two headed worm, so I am not sure if cutting all along would regenerate on 2 full bodies though

    Dissecting frogs, chickens, whatever, was not funny times to me for sure

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  • [–] 18 points 1 month ago* (2 children)

    not an earthworm, but Flatworms. flatworms belong to platyhelminthes phylum, and earthworms are annelids.

    the free-living flatworms can be cut in to pieces and sitll regenerate full bodies, but you cant cut it too small though. this is why some of them are invasive species, very hard to get rid of.

    you definitely dont want flatworms in you gardens though, they hunt earthworms and are toxic, and invasive.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    This does work for starfish though.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago

    Here's a relevant video on the topic of regeneration

    https://youtu.be/n5U8M2JtAHk

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