Flatworm Lab Report

During this lab flatworms and earthworms anatomy and physiology were examined. Unfortunately as the experiment continued with the bring home flatworm, it died in my house as it was too warm in my room and on the shaded part of my desk. The planetarium was cut up in two segments in order to see whether the anterior or posterior side of the flatworm would regenerate the fastest. My hypothesis was as stated, if the flatworm was cut above the pharynx in the branched gastrovascular cavity (before the mouth) then the planarian will regenerate its head faster than regenerating a whole body. As the experiment progressed the results were quite interesting.
To begin, the initial day looked as if my flatworm was dead since it had its head dismembered …show more content…
Then on the second day, it is noticeable that there was a third flatworm forming. This is because the posterior end of the worm contains reproductive parts that birthed this new flatworm. The planarians are a hermaphrodite organism that has both male and female reproductive organs. As for day two, it is visible to see part of the head regrowing on the posterior end of the flatworm while the body of the anterior end of the flatworm is regrowing. On the third day, there is no visible difference from day two other than the third planetarium is growing. On the following day, it is observed that the anterior end’s body is regrowing while the head of the posterior end is still forming while it seems it is regenerating it faster than the body of the anitor end. And the third flatworm is forming as well. On the final day of observation, the flatworm’s posterior head had successfully regenerated its head and the anterior end had regrown a bigger portion of it’s body however it did not regrow enough to meet its original size. The third planarian has grown to the size of the posterior end, and has a full head and