Digestive System

 

Oyster
Scallop

Oysters and Scallops like all bivalves are filter feeders and have a complete digestive system. To filter feed they beat their cilia and make water enter their mantle via their in current siphon, and expel the water out their excurrent siphon. While the water is in the mantle both the cilia and mucus on the gills catch food particles and move them to the mouth.  Once the food enters the mouth it passes through the esophagus into the stomach where extracellular digestion takes place. Then from the stomach the food moves into the animals intestine, which passes through the heart, and is where food is intracellularly digested. The waste then moves from the intestine to the anus where it is removed from the body. These animals also have digestive cecum which is located near the mouth and acts as a liver.

 

Circulatory System

 

Oysters and Scallops

Diagam of General Bivalve Circulatory System

Oysters and Scallops both have an open circulatory system, which is a bivalve characteristic. In these animals a clear or greenish blood is pumped through their form of a heart and guided by veins to open areas where it flows freely over their organs. This blood is what delivers oxygen from the gills to the organs.