Critical Reasoning

Resolve Paradox Source: Magoosh

Along the mudflats of Garantia exist two types of annelids: earthworms and lugworms. Earthworms tend to emerge from the mud early in the morning when there is more moisture and nutrients. As a result, earthworms have access to more nutrients and thus reproduce far faster than the lugworm, which spends much of the day submerged in the mud. Nonetheless, the lugworm population far outnumbers that of the earthworm.

Which of the following, if true, helps LEAST to resolve the apparent discrepancy noted above?

A) Lugworms have specialized taste receivers, which allow them to access nutrients below ground far more easily than earthworms can.

B) The whooping crane, the earthworm's chief predator, hunts along the mudflats during the time the earthworms are feeding at the surface.

C) Lugworms resemble the color of the mudflat, and are thus more difficult to spot by predators than earthworms are.

D) Compared to the lugworm, earthworms are able to consume fewer nutrients at one time.

E) Lugworms tend to emerge in the evening, when the number of predators is less than during the early morning hours, when the earthworm is exposed on the mudflat.

OA D