Flatworm Circulatory System

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Absence of circulatory system
Circulatory systems are absent in some animals, including flatworms and unicellular animals. Flatworms lack enclosed fluid or lining in their body cavity, but a muscular pharynx instead that leads to an extensively branched digestive system where nutrients and oxygen diffuse directly to all cells with ease. This is enabled by the reduced distance of body cells from the digestive system because of the flatworm’s dorso-ventrally flattened body shape. Thus every cell obtains water, oxygen and nutrients, water and oxygen without the need of a transport system. The gastrovascular cavity of some animals, like jellyfish, have more extensive branching allowing bodily fluids to reach the outer layers, since the digestion begins in the inner layers. Thus functions as both a form of circulation and a place of digestion.
Open circulatory systems …show more content…

The combination of these is called hemolymph or haemolymph. It consists of a heart, vessels, and hemolymph. The hymolymph is first pumped into the aorta through the heart, dispersed into the head and throughout the hemocoel. It then travels back through the ostium that are located in the heart, where the process is repeated. Muscular movements by the animal during locomotion facilitate hemolymph movement around the body in all directions. The hemolymph bathes the organs directly supplying oxygen and removing waste. Blood flows at a very slow speed because of absence of smooth muscles that are responsible for contraction of blood vessels. Blood is drawn back toward the heart through open-ended pores (ostia) when the heart relaxes. Most invertebrates (Arthropoda and Mollusca) have an open circulatory

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