They move around like slugs, producing a slime trail as they do. They also have elongated, flat bodies that can be as long as more than a foot. Hammerhead worms are named for their distinctive heads, which are shaped like spades. Lovely.Ī hammerhead worm can survive for several weeks on food reserves in its digestive tract – and if food is still scarce, it will actually cannibalize its own tissues for food. Then, the worm secretes digestive enzymes and sucks the liquefied tissue into its digestive tract with its cilia. Once they find the earthworm’s body, they press it against a surface and entangle it in slimy secretions of toxins, immobilizing it. They detect their prey with chemoreceptors located just below the head.
Hammerhead worms are known by a variety of different names, including hammerhead flatworms, arrowhead flatworms, and broadhead planarian (which is technically a larger category of flathead worms of which hammerheads are only one member).Īlso known as “toxic terrestrial flatworms” these pests are carnivorous creatures that play on all kinds of other insects, like earthworms, insect larvae, snails, slugs, and even other hammerhead worms (that’s right – they’re cannibals).
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