| Garden Worm | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Naming | |||
| Binomen | N/A | ||
| Morphology | |||
| Body type | Annelid | ||
| Intelligence | |||
| Sentience | Sentient | ||
| Sapience | Non-Sapient | ||
| Ecology | |||
| Place of origin | Pangaea II | ||
| Habitat | Aquifers | ||
| Diet | Phototroph | ||
| Locomotion | Crawling Swimming | ||
| Related species | Gloomworm, Slickribbon | ||
| Behind the Scenes | |||
| Universe | The Future Is Wild | ||
Garden Worms are a species of amphibious bristleworms which have evolved together with symbiotic algae inside their parapodia, resulting in a hybrid creature of plant and animal. They live in the supercontinent of Pangaea II, about 200 million years in the future.
The evolution of this species is an example of mutualism, with the algae providing food and the worm providing mobility to escape from herbivorous insects, such as Terabytes.
Biology[]
Garden Worms gather around in groups on the shores of the isolated water pools that dot the endless desert of Pangaea II, linked to the underground aquifers. They have green, branch-like fleshy lobes growing out of the sides of the central segments of their long sinuous bodies. These branches are filled with single-celled symbiotic algae which act as chloroplasts, allowing the worm to perform photosynthesis, which constitutes its only source of energy, meaning that it doesn't need to eat (although, like any plant, it does need to consume nutrients).
Garden Worms spend most of the day hours immobile, with their branches extended, gathering energy from the sun by means of photosynthesis. When threatened by Terabyte scouts or other predators, however, they will quickly and sinuously crawl away and dive into the water. They have multiple pairs of short legs or parapodia, and can move quickly to escape the jaws of the Terabytes. When immobilized, they can release a substance from between the joints of their segments which dissolves the Terabytes' glue and allows the Garden Worm to break free.
Underwater, the Garden Worms are fast swimmers, and have evolved another trick to deal with predators such as the Slickribbon. When pursued by a Slickribbon, a Garden Worm can squirt out a foul liquid that confuses and irritates the predator, allowing the prey to evade it.
Garden Worms are descendants of the same marine bristtleworm species that also evolved into the Slickribbon and the Gloomworm.
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