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Gastrovascular system of the flatworm Dugesia, colored yellow. The gastrovascular cavity is the primary organ of digestion and circulation in two major animal phyla: the Coelenterates or cnidarians (including jellyfish and corals) and Platyhelminthes (flatworms). The cavity may be extensively branched into a system of canals.
The digestive system of gastropods has evolved to suit almost every kind of diet and feeding behavior. Gastropods (snails and slugs) as the largest taxonomic class of the mollusca are very diverse: the group includes carnivores, herbivores, scavengers, filter feeders, and even parasites. In particular, the radula is often highly adapted to the ...
Digestion. Digestion is the breakdown of large insoluble food compounds into small water-soluble components so that they can be absorbed into the blood plasma. In certain organisms, these smaller substances are absorbed through the small intestine into the blood stream. Digestion is a form of catabolism that is often divided into two processes ...
The coelom (or celom) [1] is the main body cavity in many animals [2] and is positioned inside the body to surround and contain the digestive tract and other organs. In some animals, it is lined with mesothelium. In other animals, such as molluscs, it remains undifferentiated. In the past, and for practical purposes, coelom characteristics have ...
Bilateria (/ ˌbaɪləˈtɪəriə / BY-lə-TEER-ee-ə) [2] is a large clade or infrakingdom of animals called bilaterians (/ ˌbaɪləˈtɪəriən / BY-lə-TEER-ee-ən), [3] characterized by bilateral symmetry (i.e. having a left and a right side that are mirror images of each other) during embryonic development. This means their body plans are ...
Echinoderms possess a simple digestive system which varies according to the animal's diet. Starfish are mostly carnivorous and have a mouth, oesophagus, two-part stomach, intestine and rectum, with the anus located in the centre of the aboral body surface. With a few exceptions, the members of the order Paxillosida do not possess an anus.
Initially, Deuterostomia included the phyla Brachiopoda, [6] Bryozoa, [7] Chaetognatha, [8] and Phoronida [6] based on morphological and embryological characteristics. However, Deuterostomia was redefined in 1995 based on DNA molecular sequence analyses, leading to the removal of the lophophorates which was later combined with other protostome animals to form the superphylum Lophotrochozoa. [9]
Feeding and digestive system. Lancelets are passive filter feeders, [14] spending most of the time half-buried in sand with only their frontal part protruding. [66] They eat a wide variety of small planktonic organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, diatoms, and zooplankton, and they will also take detritus. [67]