When an echinoderm ingests food, the first step on the path it takes is the mouth, which is on the bottom of the organism. After the mouth, the food travels through the esophagus and into one of the two stomachs of an echinoderm; the cardiac stomach. Some echinoderms can actually take their cardiac stomachs outside of their body. For example, starfish open a bivalve with their strong water-vascular system and push their stomachs inside to digest their prey. Next, the food travels into the pyloric stomach where it is continued to be digested. The last steps of digestion take place in the intestine and digestive glands. Waste is then excreted through the anus.
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