Welcome to the next installment in the earthworm series. This is the second in a set of three, which aims to provide a brief overview of some of the most notable and often-discussed species of earthworms. If you have not read the first article, we covered the common earthworm and the tiger worm in that one. In this sequel, we will be looking at pheretima earthworms and the Asian jumping worm. These two species are pretty well-established in the helminthology world, though sources on the pheretima earthworm seem to provide conflicting accounts about their physical characteristics.

“I was blowing debris by the front door and I blew some pink stuff I thought was fungus from one crack, then when I was about to blow more of it from the other side of the porch, I noticed they were moving”, writes this reader in her submission regarding the mass of red worms pictured below. “There were hundreds of these worms in piles. If they are earth worms, which we do have around here, I will leave them be since they are good for the soil, despite the fact that I am very grossed out by this strange phenomenon and I would prefer they not be on our porch. If they are something invasive or going to turn into bugs, I would like to eradicate them. We have a lot of frogs and toads around so maybe they will take care of it for me tonight. I live in the Central Florida area. Thanks in advance.”

Earthworms: Earth’s best friend. We have often called these guys the “token worm”, as this is typically the organism people think of when they hear the word “worm”. Which is quite a lot of power for an earthworm to hold in its (nonexistent) hands. This article will be the first in a series that look at some of the most notable and often-discussed species of earthworms, if only to cover a small portion of this diverse suborder of annelids. We’ll start with some of the basics, and work our way up to the more exciting ones.

“I have found these dead worm/snake-like critters on my patio and a few in my pool,” writes Hailey in her submission regarding the black and brown, worm-like creature pictured below. “There are around 20 of them and they are freaking me out. Any idea what it is? I’m in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area. Thank you.” Right off the bat, we can tell Hailey that this worm is dried up: you can tell by its shriveled body. The worms could have died another way but dried up afterward, but given what we know these to be, we think it is likely they died from the heat itself. Typically, we would not be able to identify worms that were dried-up, as their physical characteristics can change quite drastically, making them much harder to identify, but in this case, we have seen so many of these worms in this state that we know what they are.

“My children found this worm on our driveway in west Tennessee”, writes Heather in her submission regarding the dark brown, segmented worm-like organism pictured below. “Can you help me identify it? Its underside was slightly lighter colored, kind of flattened, and it had a disk-like foot structure (possibly) at one end. Thank you.” Firstly, we want to thank Heather for the fantastic photos. The good lighting and sharp details make our job so much easier, and provides a great resource for others who find similar-looking organisms and want to know what they are. Secondly, whoever’s finger is in the photo below is very lucky, because what Heather’s children found is a leech.

“My garden plot has many thriving earth worms but, unfortunately, an infestation of grubs”, begins Ken in his submission. He did not attach any photos. “My plan is to swap out the infested soil for a new soil/compost mixture, while saving as many of the earthworms as I see while doing so, then adding them to the new soil. My question: is it possible that the earthworms would transfer grub eggs to the new soil by either having them attached to their bodies or from having ingested them? Thanks, I look forward to your answer.” To start off, we want to thank Ken for the fascinating question, one that fortunately does not require the addition of a photograph.

“I have found this worm for the fourth time (found two yesterday, and one the day before), less than one metre (approximately 3.3 feet) away from my plant pot”, writes Mrs. Wood about the red, worm-like organism pictured below. “I use rainwater to water my plants. I also have a cat, which is indoors. The worm is dried up. About one centimeter in length (0.4-inches). I zoomed right in on him. I can see his funny shape, rounded ends. Even the food he was eating inside him. He is a dark red color. I hope it’s just an earthworm, but I need your advice. I’m worried that it could be some parasite. Could you please help?”

“I’ve been searching for an answer to what this worm is, since I’ve been seeing it sometimes since a few weeks ago”, writes Martin in his submission regarding the red worm pictured below. “I’m from Montevideo, Uruguay, and I found only three or four of them since I’ve started seeing it, this being the longest (like 25-30 mm). I’m worried because I don’t know a lot of worms (they disgust me) and I don’t know where they come from, but from reading some of your posts and comparing photos, it looks like a bloodworm. Still, I want a professional opinion. I found one in the bathroom sink, another one on the bathroom floor, and the third one, believe it or not, was up on the bathroom wall, close to the ceiling and the little bathroom window. The fourth one was down on the wall close to the floor and close to my house entrance; all of this in the duration of almost a month or so.

“What is this worm?” is all Gemma writes in her submission regarding the segmented, worm-like creature pictured below. Since all we can go on is the picture and video, we would say this looks like some type of earthworm, maybe a tiger worm. Typically, tiger worms are more red than this brown color, but since the lighting is quite bad in the photo and video, it could very well be red. The movements of the worm in the video also suggest that it does not possess legs, as it has to lift its head to look around before squirming forward, much like an earthworm.

“This was found in our toilet bowl on its own”, writes this reader about the red-striped worm pictured below. “Do you know if it’s a parasite? Thank you for your website. It’s a really useful website and very informative. Thanks!” To that we want to thank our reader for the compliment, and for coming to us to have this worm identified. And with that in mind, we think our reader has found herself a tiger worm, albeit a mangled one. Like most worm species, tiger worms typically have a uniform shape to their bodies, and we can see how this worm’s body is very irregular. How we were able to tell that this is a tiger worm is by the parts of its body that are still intact. The stripes, coloration, and shape of those parts indicate that this is a tiger worm.

“We found this clung to the toilet bowl,” writes this reader in his submission regarding the strange-looking organism pictured below. “Not sure what it is, it’s clear and jellylike. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.” We have to say that we have actually seen something like this submitted before by another reader, and it stumped just as much then as it does now. The center of the creature’s body seems to be transparent, while its bristles or segmentation (we are not sure what those appendages are) are visible, but only just. On top of that, at one end of its body, the appendages seem to break apart. We are curious to know how much our reader had to zoom in on the worm to get this picture.

“Can you tell me what kind of worm this is?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the pink, and presumably large, worm pictured below. “I found it at the bottom of my toilet. My husband fished it out and put it in a plastic container. Any help you can offer would be hugely appreciated! Thank you!” To begin with, we just want to thank our reader for the excellent photo. She also sent in more, but we opted to include only the best one. They were all fantastic though. Photos like these greatly help us identify the creatures we are asked about. And on top of that, it is far more fascinating to see such creatures in such detail.

“Are these earthworms?” asks Adam in his submission regarding the big, pink worm pictured below. Now, he refers to a multitude of worms, but only pictures one, but we assume that the other worms look like this one. And to answer his question, we do think that this is an earthworm. Its coloration, segmentation, and shape point to this conclusion. The one thing it is missing is the clitellum, a physical trait which is characteristic of earthworms. The clitellum is the band of thicker skin that encircles the worm’s body, usually near its head, sometimes near its center. It is usually a different color from the rest of its body.

“I have had these skinny, slimy-looking worms that are sometimes a pink color and a translucent pink,” writes this reader in her submission. She continues to say that the worms “have basically taken over the outside walls and doors of [her] house.” She lives “in the Heartland, Florida area”, and explains that the worms were found after “all the rain the past couple months. What are they?” She does not attach any photos to her submission, so we must note that any identifications we make here are merely educated guesses, and are not made with 100% certainty or accuracy.

“Thin black worms, the size of red wigglers, are coming in from outside under the door,” writes this reader about the critter pictured below. “It’s been raining heavily during the night in Hendersonville, North Carolina. I do not see any legs. I live in a long term care facility and don’t want to see them harmed. Thanks for your help.” Firstly, we want to thank our reader for the very helpful context, which in this case is especially helpful since the photo is pretty blurry. Knowing that it does not have legs rules out a lot of possible identifications and helps narrow down the possibilities. Secondly, we commend our reader for not wanting to see the worms harmed. We know, and understand, that a lot of people’s first instinct when they find worm-like critters in their home is to kill them, even if they are harmless.

“May I ask what these are?” asks this reader about the black worms, as well as the single, beige, worm-like creature, pictured below. “Are they all the same? Location: Philippines.” Well, we have to say that the photos are quite blurry, especially the second one of the light brown worm. We can’t make out anything other than its color and general shape. For that reason, we have to say that we will unfortunately not be able to identify these creatures with 100% certainty or accuracy. Of course, we can still try our best to provide an educated guess, though this will also be based on very little as we were provided no context other than that our reader is based in the Philippines.

“What kind of worms are these?” asks this reader in her submission regarding the pink worms pictured below. “They are less than an inch long, and there were quite a bit of them. We are from Louisiana. We found them on our dog’s blanket outside which had been in the mud.” We must say that the photo is unfortunately quite blurry, meaning that when we zoomed in to get a better look at the worms, it got even blurrier. Since we can’t make out the finer details of the worms’ bodies, we can just go off their general shape and coloration.

“Can you help identify this worm/creature?” writes this reader about the brown, worm-looking critter pictured below. “They are out by the seeming hundreds right now and seem to have a tapered body. It’s raining, 55 degrees. Northwest Arkansas. Pictures attached.” Immediately, we have to say that the photos that our reader sent in were quite blurry, even without zooming in on the photo. This means that when we did zoom in for a better look at the worm, we could not see any of the finer details of the worm’s physical characteristics. For that reason, we will unfortunately not be able to identify the creature with 100% certainty or accuracy.

“I saw some of these worms in my cat’s fur, near his butt, but I’m not sure if it’s a parasite or just something from my garden”, writes Th?o in their submission regarding the black, worm-like organism pictured below. “It’s very small, like 5mm long, and very lithe. It’s a pinkish color (it looks darker in the picture). It also died (or dried out) soon after I found it, about 10-15 minutes later. We live in south east Asia, where there’s a tropical climate. Thank you for helping me.” To start with, we have to say that, whatever suggestions we make as to the worm’s identity, Th?o should take them with a grain of salt. The reason for this is that, since this worm was found on Th?o’s cat, it is possible that this is a medical situation.

“I find hundreds of earthworms in my pool after it has rained”, writes this reader in their submission, which does not include any pictures or videos. “It looks like a mass suicide? Now, I read they can survive for up to two weeks under water. Is the chlorine in the pool toxic for them, and how can I help them get back into the ground?” To start with, whether or not earthworms can survive underwater for two weeks seems to be a debatable topic. Some sources say they can survive for weeks underwater, while others say they can survive for hours. Our take is that this would be entirely dependent on the species. There are species of earthworms that belong to a group of worms called ‘bloodworms’. They are typically red in color, which they get from the excess production of hemoglobin, which does indeed allow them to survive in low oxygen conditions, such as underwater, for long periods of time. That said, not all species of earthworms are bloodworms, and we doubt the earthworms our reader found are bloodworms.