They acquire nutrition through their rotatory apparatus, which is equipped with cilia. This apparatus creates a water vortex that draws in organic food particles, including small protozoa, algae, and bacteria. Alongside their feeding function, the rotatory apparatus also serves for locomotion, enabling them to traverse significant distances. Certain rotifers have the ability to enter extended cryptobiosis, remaining in this state for thousands of years. These animals are dioecious, with observable differences in appearance between females and males. Young individuals develop inside eggs laid by fertilized females.