Comes from vague memories of high school biology discussions of the planarian flatworm. The planarian can indeed be cut in two and regenerate into two complete worms. It can be cut across, split down the middle, or even have a tiny piece cut away, and both parts will grow into a whole worm.
Bill KoenigNo it won’t. The part with the girdle (the unsegmented part) might survive, the rest won’t. As MeGoNow correctly pointed out, planaria have this ability, but they are a totally different phyla. The girdle contains the hearts and reproductive organs (both, but they cannot self-fertilize).
I remember reading a novel where the main charicter was missing an eye. Every time someone asked him how he lost his eye he’d give them a different story, one time he lost it in a bar fight, another time he lost it fighting pirates. At the end of the novel he proposed to the woman he loved and she agreed to marry him, provided he told her how he really lost his eye. with an embarrassed he said, “you know how mothers are always telling their sons not to play with a pointed stick because they could poke their eye out?” She looked at him and said, “No.” "Yes, I’m living proof that mothers are right."
jreckard over 8 years ago
Scott cleaned up the Mom’s response – the original was a bit earthier.
MeGoNow Premium Member over 8 years ago
Comes from vague memories of high school biology discussions of the planarian flatworm. The planarian can indeed be cut in two and regenerate into two complete worms. It can be cut across, split down the middle, or even have a tiny piece cut away, and both parts will grow into a whole worm.
zeexenon over 8 years ago
In a fishing boat, you use your thumbnail. Then clean up by washing the dinner dishes.
hippogriff over 8 years ago
Bill KoenigNo it won’t. The part with the girdle (the unsegmented part) might survive, the rest won’t. As MeGoNow correctly pointed out, planaria have this ability, but they are a totally different phyla. The girdle contains the hearts and reproductive organs (both, but they cannot self-fertilize).
patlaborvi over 8 years ago
I remember reading a novel where the main charicter was missing an eye. Every time someone asked him how he lost his eye he’d give them a different story, one time he lost it in a bar fight, another time he lost it fighting pirates. At the end of the novel he proposed to the woman he loved and she agreed to marry him, provided he told her how he really lost his eye. with an embarrassed he said, “you know how mothers are always telling their sons not to play with a pointed stick because they could poke their eye out?” She looked at him and said, “No.” "Yes, I’m living proof that mothers are right."