What term describes a digestive system with a mouth at one end and an anus at the other end?

What term describes a digestive system with a mouth at one end and an anus at the other end?

• A. Gastrointestinal tract
• B. Alimentary canal
• C. One-way digestion
• D. Digestive tube

Answer: (B)

A digestive system that runs from the mouth to the anus is called an alimentary canal. It’s a complete gut—a tubular passage that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus, allowing food to move in one direction through specialized regions for digestion and absorption (mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, etc.). This two-opening design makes digestion more efficient because different parts of the tract can handle different steps in a sequence, and wastes are expelled separately. Gastrointestinal tract is a related way to describe the same general idea, but the term alimentary canal emphasizes the tube itself. Digestive tube is accurate but less conventional as a technical term. One-way digestion isn’t a standard name for the structure and doesn’t specify the tube-like arrangement. In contrast, some animals have a single opening or a simpler cavity for digestion, but that’s a different, incomplete system. So the best term for a mouth-to-anus digestive setup is the alimentary canal.

A digestive system that runs from the mouth to the anus is called an alimentary canal. It’s a complete gut—a tubular passage that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus, allowing food to move in one direction through specialized regions for digestion and absorption (mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, etc.). This two-opening design makes digestion more efficient because different parts of the tract can handle different steps in a sequence, and wastes are expelled separately.

Gastrointestinal tract is a related way to describe the same general idea, but the term alimentary canal emphasizes the tube itself. Digestive tube is accurate but less conventional as a technical term. One-way digestion isn’t a standard name for the structure and doesn’t specify the tube-like arrangement. In contrast, some animals have a single opening or a simpler cavity for digestion, but that’s a different, incomplete system. So the best term for a mouth-to-anus digestive setup is the alimentary canal.