Aquatic earthworms are a close relative to the terrestrial earthworms and live their entire two years of life underwater.
They are one of several different types of aquatic worms found in fresh waters all over the world.
Aquatic earthworms are the earth movers of the underwater landscape and play an important role in keeping a body of water healthy by eating plant and animal detritus.
These earthworms are hermaphrodites, both genders produce eggs when needed.
Like regular earthworms, they can regenerate their body if injured.
I never knew about aquatic earthworms until I was taking a hike this spring and spotted this mass gathering in a spring creek bed. The mass gathering explains why “noodling” is possible to catch catfish during the time of year when the worms ball up in a mass as seen here on the hike. Always worth keeping your eyes peeled for what nature has to teach us. I’ll be tying up some aquatic earthworm patterns now!