The Sensory World of C. Elegens

 

C. elegens has four types of sensory cells that produce four sensations when subjected  to  external stumuli: 

1. Mechanosensation - produces sensory information when touched externally or during proprioception (location, movement, and action of parts of the body. Also detects sounds in its environmment.
   
2. Chemosensation - produces smell and taste sensory information when certain chemicals are encountered.
3. Photosensation - produces sensory information about any blue, violet, and ultraviolet light light encountered. 
4. Thermosensation - produces sensory information about changes in temperature.

Additionally, C. elegens can detect electromagnetic fields and respond in changes to them.

C. elegens has a total of 60 sensory neurons spread throughout its body as shown above.  They are grouped as the head ganglia, the nerve ring, the dorsal and ventral nerve cords, a few lateral neurons and the tail ganglia. Many of the animals’ sensory neurons are found in the "head" and "tail" ganglia. A few of the sensory neurons are also found throughout the length of the animal. The nerve ring functions as something of a primitive "brain".

So what do humans sense that C. elegens with 302 neural cell cannot?

• Both can sense touch and proprioception. 
• Both can sense sound. 
• Both can sense taste.
•  Both can sense smell.
• Both can sense light but unlike humans with 96.6 million photoreceptors in each eye, C.elegens has only 8 sensory cells that detect light but which is sufficient for phototaxis for danger avoidance.
• Humans are not known to be able to sense electromagnetic field as do C. elegens but birds are and it is associated with light. But, then again, light also exists in an electromagnetic field.

C. elegens has at best the beginnings of a brain that can process sensory inputs much as our brain does. But it lacks an amygdala like ours where qualia such as colors and emotions created or an cerebral cortex when conscious and reasoning is created. But survive as a living species it does and very well, indeed. ,