Horsehair Worms Missouri Department of Conservation
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Adult horsehair worms can be up to nearly 2 feet long and live in water. They are practically featureless, smooth, long, thin aquatic worms that writhe into knots and curls. They are not segmented like earthworms or leeches. The bodies are cylindrical in cross-section (not flattened). Both tips of the body are blunt and rounded. The “head” end (calotte) is unpigmented and only slightly set off from the rest of the body; the mouth is at or near this tip. The hind end of the body, in many species, has 2 or 3 lobes surrounding the cloaca (an opening that serves for waste and reproductive purposes). Mating horsehair worms form tight knots, sometimes called Gordian knots after the Greek legend.
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Horsehair Worms Missouri Department of Conservation
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Horsehair Worms Missouri Department of Conservation
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Horsehair Worms Missouri Department of Conservation
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Horsehair Worms Missouri Department of Conservation