Worms Form Tentacle-Like Structures to Navigate Together

Quick Summary

• Thousands of nematode worms can join together to form tentacle-like towers, known as “worm towers,” when food is scarce.
• the towers allow the worms to straddle gaps or hitch rides on larger animals for transportation.
• The phenomenon was studied by Serena Ding and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, focusing on Caenorhabditis elegans and similar species.
• Towers are most likely formed under conditions of overcrowding, food shortage, and physical structures for assembly (e.g., toothbrush bristles).

– Without support structures, tower heights reached a maximum of 5 mm for a minute; on supports like bristles, they reached up to 11 mm and lasted half a day.
– Other species have been observed forming towers up to 50 mm high in certain cases.

• behavior was also documented in natural settings where worm towers formed on rotting apples in an orchard near the institute.
• When interacting with touchable objects (e.g., fruit fly legs), parts or all of the tower could hitch rides using insects for movement across distances.

Image: A “worm tower” growing on a rotting apple. [Credit: perez et al./Current Biology]

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