What is the difference between Saprophyte and Parasite ?

Saprophyte

Mode of Nutrition. Nutrition is got from organic remains

External Digestion. Saprophytes perform external digestion in order to solubilise the food materials.

Sucking Organs: They are absent.

Ingestion: Only digested food is taken.

Disease: It does not cause disease.

Food: It may spoil food.

Ecological rule: It has an ecological role in scavenging the earth of dead organic matter and release of trapped biogeochemical.

Parasite

Nutrition is obtained from another living organism called host.

External digestion is absent.

Many parasites possess sucking organs.

The ingested food can be predigested, semi-digested or undigested.

It often produce disease or ailment in the host.

It robs the host of food.

A useful ecological role in absent. At times it may spread a disease in epidemic form.

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