Worms vary in size from tiny to over 1 metre (3.3 feet) in length for aquatic polychaete worms (bristle worms), 6.7 metres (22 feet) for the African titan earthworm, Microchaetus, and 58 metres (190 ft) for the aquatic nemertean worm (bootlace worm), Lineus longissimus. Free-living worm species do not live on land, in marine or freshwater settings, or burrow.
In biology, "worm" refers to an obsolete taxon (vermes) used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and derives from the Old English word wyrm. Most animals called "worms" are invertebrates, but the term is likewise made use of for the amphibian caecilians and the slow-moving worm Anguis, a legless burrowing reptile. Invertebrate animals commonly called "worms" include annelids (earthworms), nematodes (roundworms), platyhelminthes (flatworms), aquatic polychaete worms (bristle worms), marine nemertean worms ("bootlace worms"), aquatic Chaetognatha (arrowhead worms), priapulid worms, and insect larvae such as foods and maggots.
Worms might likewise be called helminths, particularly in clinical terminology when referring to parasitic worms, particularly the Nematoda (roundworms) and Cestoda (tapeworms) which reside in the bowels of their host. When an animal or human, is said to "have worms", it means that it is swarmed with parasitic worms, commonly roundworms or tapeworms.
Worms live in mostly all parts of the world consisting of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial habitats. Some worms residing in the ground help to disorder the soil (e.g., annelids, aschelminths). Several flourish as bloodsuckers of plants (e.g., aschelminths) and animals, including humans (e.g., platyhelminths, aschelminths). Many other worms might be free-living, or non parasitic. There are worms that live in freshwater, salt water, and also on the seaside. Environmentally, worms develop an essential hyperlink in the meals chains in practically all the ecological communities of the world.
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