Digestion-What is it?
Digestion is the process in which our body processes and breaks down food in order to make energy.It normally occurs with mechanical digestion, like chewing food, or chemical digestion, like the breakdown of food with stomach acid. The products of digestion, like the nutrients of cells are carried throughout the blood stream and absorbed by cells through diffusion. Starch is a common nutrient that is carried through a cell membrane and into the cell's mitochondria. Cellular respiration is he process when chemical energy in glucose is used to make ATP. ATP is when potential energy is separated from its group of 3. This results in small energy triggers that make everything in your body function.
Human Digestion
Digestion in humans is a complex process that occurs constantly with us being barely aware. It all starts in the mouth where the teeth grind and chew food. This is a process of mechanical digestion. Food is also mushed up and broken down because of saliva which is excreted from the inside of our mouths. Next, food travels down the esophagus through a series of muscular contractions. From there, it enters the stomach, where it is further broken down and churned in an acid. The food then passes by a tube connected to the liver which is excreting bile. The gallbladder also aids in storing bile. The gallbladder is a smaller organ located near to the liver. The pancreas also excretes a solution that helps with the break down of food. The food then travels into the small intestine where the nutrients are absorbed by villi which are little finger-like structures that aid in covering as much space as possible for absorbing nutrients. The food then passes into the large intestine where most of the water is taken out of the mixture. At this point it is considered waste where it then comes out of the anus.
The Goblin Shark's Digestive System
Here are some organisms that are a part of the Goblin Shark's diet:
The Goblin Shark is a unique animal in terms of hunting habits. For example, it can go for extremely long amounts of time without food and has a very large liver [1]. It can also stealthily swim up to prey without a fish knowing that it is in range, and project its jaw almost as if a human sticks out their tongue. It then sucks the fish up into its mouth where it chews the animal [1].
The Goblin Shark has a U-shaped stomach that dissolves what it eats with very strong acids and enzymes [2]. A mush of easily absorbed food is then pushed into the small intestine and bones or other non-edible waste is vomited [2]. The intestines have a very large surface area that is folded or spiraled to increase the amount of absorption [2].