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Caenorhabditis elegans | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans

ChromadoreaRotting plant material and compost, feeding on bacteria

Field profile

Caenorhabditis elegans is a transparent free-living nematode about one millimetre long. Most individuals are self-fertilising hermaphrodites, with males appearing at low frequency. It became the first animal to have its complete genome sequenced and its full neural wiring mapped.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2023-02-02

Caenorhabditis elegans

Every cell in this worm has been counted

The adult hermaphrodite Caenorhabditis elegans has 959 somatic cells, and the lineage of each one from the fertilised egg is known. The count is invariant, which is why the worm became a foundational model organism.

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