A lab observation notes that during earthworm digestion, food is stored briefly and then mechanically ground. The observation points to:

Correct Answer: A

crop and gizzard

In earthworms, the crop stores food and the gizzard grinds it with ingested particles. This supports processing of soil and organic matter. This MCQ belongs to the Annelida topic in Animal Diversity-I and is written to test concept understanding rather than memorized wording.