THE banana slug
The Banana Slug is part of a class called gastropods, which is a class mostly composed of snails and slugs. The digestive system for this specific slug is made up of only a few different key components, similar to those of a human: a mouth, a radula, salivary glands and ducts, an esophagus, a stomach, a rectum, and an anus.
When a slug eats, its radula, which acts as teeth in a mouth, grazes and scrapes food off of leaves, trees, and the ground. As the slug moves and eats, it leaves behind a trail of circles known as a feeding track. Once the food has entered the mouth it is then brought to the esophagus, where the muscles in the tube slowly bring the food down into the stomach where, unlike in humans, there is a gizzard that grinds the food up and may even contain sand grains to help with the break-down of vitamins and minerals in the food that slugs eat.
Then, the anterior portion of the stomach opens into a coiled intestine, which helps to absorb water from the food, producing fecal pellets. The anus opens above the head to defecate.
When a slug eats, its radula, which acts as teeth in a mouth, grazes and scrapes food off of leaves, trees, and the ground. As the slug moves and eats, it leaves behind a trail of circles known as a feeding track. Once the food has entered the mouth it is then brought to the esophagus, where the muscles in the tube slowly bring the food down into the stomach where, unlike in humans, there is a gizzard that grinds the food up and may even contain sand grains to help with the break-down of vitamins and minerals in the food that slugs eat.
Then, the anterior portion of the stomach opens into a coiled intestine, which helps to absorb water from the food, producing fecal pellets. The anus opens above the head to defecate.