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Journalism of Courage
Last month,when a group of students at the Yashwantrao Chavan Institute of Science YCIS,Satara,were in the process of searching for varieties of spiders and collecting earthworms for a science-related project,they came across a worm gliding over a layer of slime. The specimen was collected and was identified to be a terrestrial flatworm called Bipalium,also known as a hammerhead worm. What started out as mere curiosity,resulted in a full-fledged project about its habits and other aspects that is currently going on at the Institute.
Bipalium is called hammerhead worm owing to its hammerhead shaped anterior part. Flatworms belong to phylum platyhelminthes and also include other animals like liver fluke which is a parasite in the liver of vertebrates and tapeworms which are parasites of the intestines of many animals. The animal presently found is not a parasite but a free living terrestrial flatworm. Flat worms are primitive animals having flat body and peculiar feeding habits where the pharynx or the first part of digestive system is thrown out of the mouth. Digestive juices usually found in stomach of animals are poured over the prey. The prey is digested or semi digested and converted into a
Considering the facts and characteristics about this worm,we are trying to study its presence and distribution in the area as the worm is likely to affect the vermiculture practice. We have received three feed backs from adjoining areas regarding the sighting of the worm, said Dr V Y Deshpande,Zoology Department of YCIS. Working with Deshpande are faculty members A.R.Aundhkar,Dr R S.Dubal,D D Pawar along with the students Sidharth Kulkarni,Priyanka Shinde and N S Shelar. According to
Deshpande,though the worm has been sighted in India a few times,no one has gone ahead with an elaborate and systematic study. A number of studies are being carried out in Japan,China and North America.
The study will also determine the time of the day when the animal is active and is understanding its food habits and other properties. During the first year,a few specimens will be kept in laboratory conditions to see if they can acclimatise to the conditions. Meanwhile,the students will work on the study of cells,mucous,regeneration,systems and some biochemical aspects, added Deshpande.
Through its 300 odd volunteers,YCIS also aims to reach the count of Bipalium. The project will continue for more than a year. If at the end of the project,the population that we discover is on the higher side,it will lead us to the second stage of the project ie studying how threatening is its growth, Deshpande said.
He added that the references from the foreign nations indicate that such worms are found in gardens and in vermi-composting pits and are responsible for causing heavy casualty of earthworms. The genus Bipalium includes some 170 species worldwide. Their native is in the Indo-Malaysian region,the Southeast Asiatic area and Madagascar. Seven new species were discovered from China and Japan by Masaharu Kawakatsu in 2005. Apart from the Asiatic nations,they are common in North America and are reported as nuisances in the southern U.S. in earthworm rearing beds,and the fields.
