Question

Explain how tapeworms can survive without a coelom,a mouth, a digestive system, or an excretory system.

Short answer

Tapeworms survive through their bodies. They are flat, attributed partly to the lack of coelom. Tapeworms can receive food from their host intestine and releaseammonia via their body surface.

Step-by-step solution

Morphology of tapeworm parasite

Tapeworms are infected flatworms of the class Cestoda and the Phylum Platyhelminthes. The tapeworm has an extended body segment, head, and suckers or hooks for adhering to the host. Tapeworm bodies have a strong cuticle coating that allows them to absorb food.

Coelom and its importance

A coelom is a hollow, fluid-filled cavity present in many organisms that cushion their vital organs. The coelom serves as a skeleton in some creatures, such as worms. The coelom also permits internal organs to move and grow independently of the body wall's exterior layer.

Step 3:Survival of tapeworm without coelom

Tapeworms are another vast and diversified parasitic rhabditophoran genus. Adults spend most of their time inside vertebrates, including humans. The front end, or scolex, of several tapeworms is armed with suckers and often hooks that the worm utilizes to adhere to its host's gut wall.

Tapeworms do not have a mouth or a gastrovascular cavity. Therefore they rely on the nutrients released during digestion in the host's intestine to survive. Absorption takes place everywhere across the tapeworm's body.