So far there are no earthworm cocoons in our vermipit. The earthworms we recieved seem to be juvenile and only few have prominent clitellum. So it could take awhile for them to reproduce.
“Earthworms produce between 4 and 70 cocoons per year. Those worms which live deep in the soil produce less number of cocoons, while the worms living on the upper layers produce more. This is because; danger from drought and predators is more on the upper layers. Each cocoon may contain two to twenty embryos. Depending upon favorable conditions, young worms hatch from cocoons. They mature in ten to fifty weeks to produce cocoons over again.”
Reference: http://cocoon.org/earthworm-cocoon/
“The cocoons will gradually change its color from golden yellow to deep red; much like maroon as 4 to 6 embryonic Red Wiggler worms develop inside.Eisenia Fetida eggs will hatch and the babies will emerge at least 3-4 weeks.”
They are still alive and well in the vermipit. No cocoons are seen. We toss the soil now and then to prevent fungal and larval growth. We plan to culture these worms, increase their number so that we can perform the RER assay.
We plan on conducting an experiment on ventral nerve cord regeneration using the rapid escape response assay.
[center]Eisenia fetida in vermipit on 5/9/2019 at St Peter’s College, Kolenchery[/center]
The earthworms are seen at the topsoil and have visibly increased in width and length. The vermipit is working wonders! I’m sure with this development, we’ll soon spot cocoons as well.
We can always toss the soil in the vermipit to find cocoons if any. Last time we checked there were none.
We assume that these are earthworm larvae. We found a large number of these in our Eisenia fetida vermipit on 1/11/2019. Could anyone help us confirm the same?
What is the crucially characteristic feature of Earthworm to belong to it’s Phylum that separates it from other worms? @Akshitha
Let’s start from the begining to distinguish different worm-looking phyla @Akshitha
