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Intra-Oral Flow Patterns And Speeds In A Suspension-Feeding Fish With Gill Rakers Removed Versus Intact, Jennifer S. Smith, S. Laurie Sanderson

Arts & Sciences Articles

Oreochromis aureus, a species of tilapia, is a suspension-feeding fish that employs a pumping action to bring water into its mouth for filtering.To address questions about water flow inside the mouth, we used a microthermistor flow probe to determine the speed of intra-oral flow during suspension feeding in this species before and after surgical removal of gill rakers. Synchronization with high-speed external videotapes of the fish and high-speed video endoscopy inside the oropharyngeal cavity allowed the first correlation of oral actions with intra-oral flow patterns and speeds during feeding. This analysis established the occurrence of a brief reversal of …