Many very different and unrelated types of animals that are generally long and soft are called worms. Of these, three common types of worms are: the flatworm, the roundworm, and the segmented worm. Flatworms are soft, unsegmented invertebrates. They do not have specialised respiratory systems so it restricts them to this flat shape to allow
them to breathe through their skin. Flatworms have only one body cavity through which they eat and excrete waste. Roundworms, on the other hand, are very smooth and tubular, and have openings on both ends of their bodies,
to eat from one end and excrete waste from another. Segmented worms have body segments and many have parapodia, which are leg-like protrusions that help the worms move around. The best known type of segmented worm is the earthworm.
Divers recently discovered a new species of worm on the seafloor of the Southern Ocean. These worms are nicknamed the “bone-eating worms” because they eat dead whale bones in the bottom of the ice-cold waters of the
Antarctic and parts of the world. The Antarctic bone-eating worms, scientifically known as Osedax antarcticus, secrete acid to dissolve the hard calcium from the bones of a whale carcass in order to feed on the fatty lipids it needs to survive.
