Thread: what is the mode of nutrition of a invertebrate?

before Dec.1, 2007

Depends on what kind you are talking about. As far as the ingestion process, some invertebrates such as crabs have appendages that allow them to reach for a grasp food to bring to their mouths. Others like snails use only their mouths to take in food and readily crawl all over whatever they are eating. Animals like corals and feather dusters are usually filter feeders. They are both marine animals and depend on a large surface area of tissue to grab foodstuffs out of the water. Feather dusters are actually a worm that live in a tube and have a feather on one end that sticks out of the tube. The feather acts like a spider web and grabs food which then moves towards the worms mouth. Corals have polyp extensions that reach out and grab food and slowly transport those to its 'mouth.' All invertebrates have GI tracts which digests the food and excretes any waste- some have an entry and an exit such as snails and slugs, and for others like corals, their GI tract only has one opening which functions for both entry and excretion. Hope this helps.

Digestion. Invertebrates still have stomachs, so they eat in the same way everything else does.