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My Anatomy

Did you know I had hair?

 

If you look at my body under a magnifying glass, you will see a lot of little rings across my entire body . . . looks kind of like corduroy or a lot of rings connected together. These rings are called segments. When I am all grown up, I will have 120-170 segments. On the first segment is my mouth and on the last segment is my anus—sort of like the beginning and the end.

If you had a microscope and looked really, really closely at each segment, you will see something that looks like a bunch of small hairs or bristles. (And I'll bet you thought worms were bald.) These bristles are called setae (pronounced see-tee) and they help me move. I have four pairs of these bristly "hairs" on each ring or segment.

My Beginning and End What's Next? My Body
Segments and Setae My Clitellum
My Mouth My Five Hearts
Parts Quiz How I Move
How I Digest How I Breathe
How I Reproduce Light Sensitivity