Worm Grow Lab Report

In biology 102 lab, I conducted an experiment dealing with worms and how they regenerate or “grow”. We did this study over a specific type of worm called Planaria, which are simple, small, flat worms that reside in aquatic environments and are free-living (Brewton, 2017, p. 44). To start, I went over to the lab counters and obtained my worm with a plastic pipette, sucking up the worm with a little bit of water and placing it in a tiny covered plate. The water was essential to include with the worm, because it would dry out without it, and the experiment would not work, however the worm only needed a tiny bit to cover the bottom in order to survive. If too much water was added, the worm would essentially drown, because it needs solid surfaces to propel itself forward and to move about (Brewton, 2017, p. 44). Once I sat down with my worm, Billy, I put the plate underneath the microscope to examine his phenotypical characteristics and to get a better look at how to cut him with a razor blade. I cut Billy into two separate segments, each being about the same length (3mm), and observed that they both still moved freely. To
When I came back the following week, I observed that both segments had grown at the same rate of 2 extra millimeters, and their seemed to be a head forming on the bottom half, but I wasn’t quite sure. The following week after that, the top half had grown faster, up to 10 millimeters. While the bottom half had only grown 1 millimeter extra, making it 6 millimeters in length. At this point they both had prominent heads that I could see, and this fascinated me, because I was not expected this outcome at all! I was not even expecting these things to grow, and I was very skeptical. I had heard they could grow two head and I thought “That’s crazy and not going to happen!”. It was as if my worm had had an