Pink and black flatworm

Flatworms

Flatworm Videos

Phyla

  • Flatworms: The First Hunter

Animation

  • Flatworm Animation: Body Plan
  • Flatworm Animation: Tapeworm
  • Flatworm Animation: Reproduction

Behavior

  • Flatworms: Reproduction
  • Flatworms: An Invasive Flatworm Hunts Earthworms

General Info

  • Book with pencil

Role in Ecosystem

  • Bee with arrows around it

Climate

  • Thermometer and waves

Human Interaction

  • Human next to globe

Paleontology

  • Skull of dinosaur
  • Red orange and pink flatworm
    Lesson Plan
    Flatworms: The First Hunter Questions
    There are three separate lessons here based on questions.A list of questions about the characteristics of flatworms to use after viewing the video Flatworms: The First Hunter.A Shape of Life: The First Hunter worksheet. Students make sketches and write short answers to questions about the amazing world of flatworms. This was created by Rachel Miller from Science from Scratch.A Powerpoint with questions to use while watching the video Flatworms: The First Hunter. 

    Full Lesson Plan

All Flatworms Lesson Plans

  • Red orange and pink flatworm
    Factsheet
    Flatworms: An Ancient Body Plan
    Around 20,000 flatworm species today have the same basic body plan that appeared roughly 500 million years ago.

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All Factsheets

  • Black and yellow flatworm
    Reading
    Flatworms: Getting Ahead, An Explosion of Life
    When you collect marine animals, there are certain flatworms so delicate that they are almost impossible to capture whole, for they break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and then lift them gently into your bottle of seawater.

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All Readings

Creature

Planarians

Planarians are free-living flatworms. Like other flatworms the planarian has a bilateral body plan with a brain and stereo eyes that enable it to actively hunt. Unlike the flashy flatworms that live in the ocean, the thousands of species of planarians live either in freshwater or on land around the world.

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Did You Know?

Marine Flatworms Colors Send a Warning

Flatworms are some of the most colorful marine creatures. Their spectacular colors and patterns can be eye popping. Scuba divers and tide-poolers love to take pictures of them for good reason; they are dazzling.

More Did You Know?

Shape of Life Blog

Are Planarians Guiding Us to a New Way of Healing?

Planarians are small flatworms known for their amazing ability to regenerate. As the naturalist John Graham Dalyell wrote in 1814, planarians could “almost be called immortal under the edge of the knife. They can tear themselves in half and regrow complete bodies. They can retain memories despite decapitation. And if you chop them into little pieces, each piece will start acting like a perfectly intact worm.“

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