Nutrition

     When it comes to feeding, hookworms get quite the variety of nutrition. At each stage in their life, they gain nutrients from different substances ranging from the soil to human intestinal mucus. Since they are in the phylum Nematoda, hookworms have a psuedocoelom that they use for digesting food.

-Hookworm eggs gain nutrients via the feces of the host that it has inhabited.
-In the larval stage, hookworms are free-living in the soil. They aren't here for long, but while they are, larval hookworms gains it nutrients by absorbing it from the substrate.
-Once the juvenile hookworms have found a host, they feed by attaching themselves to blood vessels and consuming the blood.
-The adult hookworm feeds on the intestinal tract of the host. It attaches to the intestinal wall with it sharp buccal teeth. These teeth are also used to tear open blood vessels in the intestinal to consume blood once again. Hookworms possess anticoagulant substances that are secreted to keep the blood from clotting and allow it to continue to eat.