FACTS ABOUT THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM OF A JELLYFISH
- Jellyfish do not have a specialized digestive system.
- The food enters through the mouth, and is trapped in the gastrovascular cavity and the nutrients are absorbed by the gastrodermis.
- The waste products of a jellyfish leave through the mouth.
- Jellyfish are carnivores that feed on zooplankton and other jellyfish.
- Jellyfish use their tentacles to poison the food they are trying to capture.
- Each tentacle has a large amount of nematocysts, which uncoil when the tentacle hits the prey. Nematocysts, when there is pressure on it, causes a coiled stinging thread to quickly harpoon into the object that touched the tentacles . The nematocysts usually paralyze or kill what the jellyfish is hunting.