• Question: how much does a worm eat every year

    Asked by 622brna22 to Lydia on 10 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Lydia Bach

      Lydia Bach answered on 10 Nov 2014:

      Hiya,

      lets take the rag worm for example:

      http://www.theseashore.org.uk/theseashore/SpeciesPages/Ragworms.html

      A worm like this one needs to eat at least 30% of its own body mass in food to maintain its body functions or grow. So if we have a rag worm thats 4g heavy, it needs to eat 1.2g of food a day.

      Over a year that is

      1.2g x 365 days = 436.8g (almost half a kg!)

      – Mind you a worm may eat more in summer when food is abundant, but has to work harder to find food in winter. Lucky the rag worm can switch its diet from predating on other small animals to being a scavenger!

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