Planarians and other flatworms lack organs specialized for gas exchange and circulation. The flat shape of the body places all cells close to the surrounding water, and fine branching of the gastrovascular cavity distributes food throughtout the animal. Nitrogenous waste in the form of ammonia diffuses directly from the cells into the surrounding water. Flatworms also have relatively simple excretory apparatus that function mainly to maintain osmotic balance between the animal and its surroundings. This system consists of ciliated cells called flame cells that waft fluid through branched ducts opening to outside (see FIGURE 40.6). The evolution of osmoregulatory structures was a major factor in allowing some turbellarians to invade freshwater and even moist terrestrial environments.
Planarians move by using cilia on the ventral epidermis, gliding along a film of mucus they secrete. Some turbellarians occasionally also use their muscles to swim through water with an undulating motion.
A planarian has a head (is cephalized) with a pair of eyespots that detect light and lateral flaps that function mainly for smell. The planarian nervous system is more complex and centralized than the nerve nets of cnidarians. Planarians can learn to modify their responses to stimuli.
Planarians can reproduce asexually through regeneration. The parent constricts in the middle, and each half regenerates the missing end. Sexual reproduction also occurs. Although planarians are hermaphrodites, copulating mates cross-fertilize.