Waters Alive With Movement

My son found a thread-like worm moving in a mud puddle the other day.  When he brought it home I thought he had a piece of black wire or something similar in his hand but THEN I SAW IT WRITHING.  It just constantly writhed back and forth.  We put it in a jar with water to observe it some more (even though I’m completely repulsed by it, I just had to keep watching it). 

We found out it is a Gordian Worm or it’s also known as a Horsehair Worm since it looks like a piece of hair from a horse.  They are parasites that can live inside an insect and you find them in ponds, puddles of water and other damp places.  They are not harmful to humans, thank goodness!  From what I understand, you do not see them until they’re an adult and not much is known about them when they are still larvae. 

If you just have to know more, go here and here  where you’ll get to read about a lady who stepped on a cricket and noticed shortly after a long thread-like worm emerging.  Doesn’t it just get better and better?

Ours (My goodness, I sound so possessive.)  is an adult male.  We could tell because of its forked tail.  I was going to post a picture of our little darling but Flickr just wouldn’t cooperate and since I didn’t want to let you down after getting your interest peaked, I settled for one from Wikipedia.

They say that sometimes you’ll find them in your toilets after disposing of an infected insect.  So if some time you see a black hair in your toilet and you don’t have black hair,  you just might want to take a second look .  

 Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments