Gastrovascular cavity, as the name indicates, functions in both digestion and the transport of nutrients to all parts of an animal body. Organisms belonging to two major phyla, the Cnidaria and the Platyhelminthes, possess gastrovascular cavities. The radially symmetrical cnidarians have a sac-like body in two distinct layers, with a jellylike layer between. Extracellular digestion takes place within the central cavity of the sac-like body. This cavity has only one opening to the outside and that is surrounded by tentacles in most cidarians. The tentacles serve to capture prey. Digestion is the process whereby a biological entity processes a substance, in order to chemically convert the substance into nutrients. ... Classes Anthozoa - Corals and sea anemones Cubozoa - Sea wasps or box jellyfish Hydrozoa - Hydroids, hydra-like animals Scyphozoa - Jellyfish Cnidaria (from New Latin cnida nematocyst, fr. ... Classes Monogenea Trematoda Cestoda Turbellaria The flatworms (Platyhelminthes, Greek platy: flat; helminth: worm) are a phylum of relatively simple soft-bodied invertebrate animals. ... Tentacles can refer to the elongated flexible organs that are present in many invertebrates, and sometimes to the hairs of the leaves of some insectivorous plants. ...
The basic body shape of a cnidarian consists of a sac with a gastrovascularcavity, with a single opening that functions as both mouth and anus.
The ectoderm surrounds the cnidarian's 'stomach', or gastrovascularcavity which functions as both mouth and anus; it is used both to ingest food and excrete waste.
The gastrovascular system plays a role in the digestion and dispersion of food and the removal of metabolic waste: it surrounds the gastrovacular cavity as well as its extensions in the tentacles of polyps.
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