Topic summary
Flatworms

Extracted from the Wikipedia article Flatworm.
Platyhelminthes (from Ancient Greek πλατύ (platy) 'flat' and ἕλμινς (helmins) 'parasitic worm') is a phylum of relatively simple bilaterian, unsegmented, soft-bodied invertebrates commonly called flatworms or flat worms. Being acoelomates (having no body cavity), and having no specialised circulatory and respiratoryorgans, they are restricted to having flattened shapes that allow oxygen and nutrients to pass through their bodies by diffusion. The digestive cavity has only one opening for both ingestion (intake of nutrients) and egestion (removal of undigested wastes); as a result, the food can not be processed continuously.