What are these pale pink worms in the stream?

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

I've been going through some old photos and came across these which were taken in March last year. The worms were in our stream in. I've tried googling using the obvious buzz words but haven't come up with anything yet.

No idea if they are ultra common or not, but curious to learn more if anyone knows what they are?

Many thanks

[Jungle Jane]

All I could find when gooogling was aquatic worms,similar to earthworms,important for the ecosystem. I don’t remember seeing one before,are they in water,if so it’s very clean

[Purple Primrose]

They look like drowned earthworms but they can survive in water for a while apparently so maybe not.

[ameno]

Where they moving? Because if not, I'd be inclined to agree with Purple Primrose: they seem to be drowned earthworms. They seem to have the sort of bloat that dead things get when they've been in water for a while.

[Russel Sprout]

Many thanks for the replies.

Yes, they were in water. In the middle of a well running stream. Unfortunately I cannot remember if they were moving or not. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled this year for more of the same.

Drowned earthworms sounds like a good explanation, and failing any aquatic works that a) Live in the UK, and b) Look like the ones in my photos (my image search found some that were similarish but not a very close match), then I think earthworms can be the only explanation really. However. if totally dead, then it's strange how they were all huddled in so close together and hadn't just been washed away....

Cheers

[Plot70]

Earthworms survive for quite a few days if they fall into a water butt. I would assume that they have come up to the surface of the soil in response to rain and then been washed into the stream by some heavy rain before getting time to go back into the ground again.
If they were fished out and put on tilled soil I guess that they would recover there strength and carry on. Any that find there way to the bank should recover too.