The Digestive System of a Blue Pseudoceros Flatworm (Pseudoceros bifurcus)
The Blue Pseudoceros Flatworm is a polyclad, meaning "many branches," referring to its branched digestive system. It is also somewhat incomplete and simple. Being a flatworm, it has no way of swallowing its prey, so it must use a different method of taking in food. One way is for the pharynx of the flatworm to engulf its prey outside of the body. Another way is to inject their digestive juices into their prey, then when the prey is capable of being swallowed, it is sucked up. Then this food moves through the stomach, which is lined with cilia. This helps the flatworm carry food to digest, and helps it to move through the digestive tract. Being that this particular flatworm, like most others, does not have an anus, they must spit the indigestible bits out through the only other hole, their mouth. The mouths of flatworms happen to be on the underside of their bodies, and more towards the back of their bodies as well. Like most nematodes, the Blue Pseudoceros Flatworm does not have a coelom, and their gut only allows food to move one way down the digestive tract.