Control of Locomotion in Annelids

Abstract

Abstract This article reviews the status of research on locomotion in segmented worms. It focuses on three major groups (leeches, earthworms, and nereid polychaetes) that have attracted the most research attention. All three groups show two types of locomotion: crawling (moving over a solid substrate) and swimming (moving through a liquid). The adults of all three groups form a hydroskeleton by controlling the pressure within the segments, and they locomote by controlling the shapes of the individual segments in coordinated spatial and temporal patterns. Many annelid larvae use cilia to move through water. Four aspects of the locomotory patterns are considered: the kinematics (the movement patterns), biomechanics (how muscle contractions produce movement), the neuronal basis of the movement patterns, and efforts to produce robots that move like annelid worms.