# Common garden worm... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723 "2002-05-31T13:14:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ali0r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ali0r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali0r)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/1 "2002-05-31T13:14:04Z")
I know these questions have probably been asked before…but I’ll fire away anyway… 🙂 Firstly - If you cut a garden worm in half (not that im suggesting you should do this), do both the ends live, or just one? Secondly - Do worms ‘mate’ or are they an asexual reproductive organism thingy? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/2 "2002-05-31T14:09:41Z")
IIRC Earthworms are hermaphrodites; they mate, becoming joined by a blob of mucus into which (I think) they both deposit eggs and sperm, they wriggle out of the blob and it toughens to become a protective casing for the eggs. (That’s what I recall from school, anyway). ---
**Author:** ![ali0r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ali0r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali0r)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/3 "2002-05-31T14:25:30Z")
Oki, chrz for that :)…now how about the chopping in half bit? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pommyaussie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/45deac/32.png) [@Pommyaussie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pommyaussie)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/4 "2002-05-31T14:37:46Z")
How difficult is it to chop the wriggly critters in half anyway? They never seem to cooperate by lying still while you do the deed. Howevah on numerous sunny afernoons I’ve cut worms in half while fishing, both ends seem to live but sadly death follows from drowning (rarely from a fish biting, sadly). ---
**Author:** ![ali0r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ali0r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali0r)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/5 "2002-05-31T14:42:20Z")
Yeah, I know that both ends wriggle (was’nt me that did the nasty deed ;))…but is it the case that they both go on and ‘live’, or is it just the ‘cutting a head of a chicken and the body runs about a bit’ situation? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/6 "2002-05-31T14:42:59Z")
You should invest in a pair of [Worm Scissors](http://www.anglinguk.net/hostV4/Swiftys/Swiftys_Pole_Accessories_35.html) ---
**Author:** ![ali0r](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@ali0r](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ali0r)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/7 "2002-05-31T14:58:56Z")
Carnage. :o ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2002, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-garden-worm/111723/8 "2002-05-31T15:11:14Z")
The “band” (clitellum) you see on an earthworm is the “naughty bits”. Some amplification on Mangetout’s explanation: [http://members.aol.com/camusurca/earthworms/reproduc.htm](http://members.aol.com/camusurca/earthworms/reproduc.htm) Since the creature DOES have a mouth end and an anus end (not readily apparent to casual observation, I will admit), and differentiated systems like digestive / circulatory systems that extend the length of the worm, I would guess that both halves die. The heart and the brain (yes, an earthworm actually has a brain) are at the front end.