How long can an Earthworm hold it's breath

[Yabbadoo]

Ok.......2 weeks ago, I fed some earthworms to my crays...
The cray must have missed one and unknown to me, the worm burrowed under the gravel.

Today, I was doing a gravel vac & sucked him out.....Still well & truely alive!!! I was shocked that it could survive under water for that long!

Anyone know what the go is with them breathing underwater???
Or can they hold their breath for ages???

 

[ewurm]

Earthworms can't survive underwater as far as I know, that's amazing. Wurms can't survive underwater either.

 

[Bderick67]

Earthworms breath through their skin. It must have been able you absorb oxygen from the water.

 

[Yabbadoo]

Earthworms breath through their skin. It must have been able you absorb oxygen from the water.

I hope that's a good sign for my water quality & D.O. level....

 

[frogman5]

lol i just had this happen to fed some worms to my newts and a week later found them alive and they were in small pieces to i cut them up quite amazing

 

[mr_cool_guy]

I remember watching dirty jobs one time and they were searching/finding worms in very soupy mud. Can remember the type though.

 

[catfishlover106]

I remember watching dirty jobs one time and they were searching/finding worms in very soupy mud. Can remember the type though.

that would be bloodworms from that show dirty jobs...LOL at the end they all tried seeing if one would bite them or something LOL but those are some MIGHTY BIG BLOODWORMS...hmm and yes the mud was very soupy like...VERY wet

 

[Lupin]

An earthworm like that would foul my water overnight. I lost one geo when one earthworm died and fouled my water. The jardini surprisingly survived and I just gaped in surprise as it swam around unfazed by anything.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

I feed worms to my native tank alot and i see them poking up out of the gravel for a few days. But the fish have learned to watch for it as well so they do not last to long. But I have seen the same one last a few days. ------------I would like to know how long they can live as well. Because when it rains they come out of the ground and i allways thought it was so that they did not drown. But after looking into it more on the net I found out that the reason they come out when it rains is so they can mate and not dry out and die. Actually I did not find anything out about a worm drowning.

 

[Yabbadoo]

when it rains they come out of the ground and i allways thought it was so that they did not drown. But after looking into it more on the net I found out that the reason they come out when it rains is so they can mate and not dry out and die.

LOL......I thought the same thing....
I always see 3 or 4 in each puddle after rain. Easy pickings.....

Might get a few feeds out of these guys.....Tee Hee....
Giant Gippsland Earthworm.