avoided areas

• by 2ndgm

  some areas of the background are lighter in color and are avoided by the worms. Why is that? How much of the area of the petri dish is visible in one frame?

  Posted December 30, 2014 12:04 PM

• by shocko61

  Hi 2ndgm , I am not an expert but from my observations the light area is outside the area of their food , so they waist no time in getting back into the food area . Cheers, Ian 😃

  Posted December 30, 2014 10:36 PM

• by 2ndgm

  I wondered if that was the case - thanks

  Posted December 31, 2014 12:20 PM

• by aexbrown scientist

  Yes, that's right. The worms are on a patch of food that's about 10 times their body length in diameter. That means they reach the edge pretty frequently. In fact, because the food is thicker at the edges (search "coffee ring effect" if you're curious about why that is) they spend more time at the edges than in the centre.

  Posted January 3, 2015 2:48 PM

• by 2ndgm

  Thank you - I find these worms unexpectedly interesting

  Posted January 3, 2015 3:30 PM

• by DZM admin

  They are cool little guys, aren't they? 😄

  Posted January 5, 2015 3:51 PM