Silly Question about worms

[gentlefern]

I have tried to look this up on the internet, but there is no mention of it.
My son has been doing a decomposition experiment in school. He and his friends spotted a Grey Worm (Apporrectodea calignosa). They want to know if it is poisonous. I'm fairly confident that it is'nt, but it doesn't actually say so on any of the sites I've visited. So I thought I'd check here with the real experts before I go give him and his classmates incorrect or inaccurate information.

Many thanks for any information anyone can give me.

cheers
Karen

[Wild-Woman]

I've never heard of earthworms being poisonous. Whether they are capable of ingesting toxins such as heavy metals from the soil, I have no idea.
I expect someone more 'in the know' will help you later.

[gentlefern]

Thanks for your response Wild-woman.

I must admit my initial reaction was to say nah they aren't, but then I thought "are you sure, final answer?" I've been telling them that spiders can't harm you and then I found a section on the Natural History Museums' website that details how many people have been harmed by spider bites in the UK. Mainly allergic reactions, but enough of them to make my assertion not strictly true.

[Wild-Woman]

All spiders are venomous, it's their only way of catching and subduing prey before consuming the contents of the prey in liquid form. However, all but a very small handful of these are capable of biting through human flesh to leave the venom. None of those that can bite through have a strong enough venom to be harmful or fatal in Britain. Some people react badly to a bite of any type though, an example being a simple gnat bite, flea bite or worse horse fly. A spider bite might therefore be comparable with these.
I'd be more concerned about a bite from a cat to be honest.

Earthworms simply plough their way through the earth, taking in the earth and extracting organic matter and passing out the other end as a cast. Therefore they don't 'need' a venom. But as I've said, whether they can ingest toxins present in the soil... I'll leave that to the worm experts.

[gentlefern]

Don't worry I've kept the spider bite thing to myself. Neither of my kids are scared of them and I want to keep it that way.

I was thinking along the same lines in that "why would a worm need to be poisonous?" They live underground for the main part so no real need as a defence and like you say they aren't hunters.

I would like to have it confirmed though, just so I know I'm not giving out disinformation.