Digestive System for Garden Snail
How Garden Snails Digest Food
1. A snail’s digestive system starts with its buccal mass, or its mouth, which is used to take in food. Snails have jaws inside their mouth to cut off bits of food. [1]
2. Snails also have a radula, a ribbon-like tongue, covered with horn-shaped teeth. The radula grinds up food by moving back and forth rapidly while the jaw holds the food in place. [1] 3. The mouth connects to the esophagus. The food enters the esophagus when it swallows the food. [1] 4. The food goes into the crop, a place where salivary glands are found. There are bacteria in the crop which helps the snail digest cellulose. [2] 5. The food enters the sack-shaped stomach, which is an extension of the crop. The food is also digested here. [3] 6. The food enters the intestine. Useful nutrients are absorbed into the large intestine. [2] 7. Undigested food exits the snail through the anus. [2] [1] http://universe-review.ca/R10-33-anatomy.htm#mollusks [2] http://www.porcellio.scaber.org/Snails/Snail.htm [3] http://digestivemack.weebly.com/mollusca.html |