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Feeding Mechanism And Functional Morphology Of The Jaws Of The Lemon Shark Negaprion Brevirostris (Chondrichthyes, Carcharhinidae), Philip J. Motta, Timothy C. Tricas, Robert E. Hueter, Adam P. Summers
Feeding Mechanism And Functional Morphology Of The Jaws Of The Lemon Shark Negaprion Brevirostris (Chondrichthyes, Carcharhinidae), Philip J. Motta, Timothy C. Tricas, Robert E. Hueter, Adam P. Summers
Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications
This study tests the hypothesis that preparatory, expansive, compressive and recovery phases of biting behavior known for aquatically feeding anamniotes are conserved among extant elasmobranch fishes. The feeding mechanism of the lemon shark Negaprion brevirostris is examined by anatomical dissection, electromyography and high-speed video analysis. Three types of feeding events are differentiated during feeding: (1) food ingestion primarily by ram feeding; (2) food manipulation; and (3) hydraulic transport of the food by suction. All feeding events are composed of the expansive, compressive and recovery phases common to aquatically feeding teleost fishes, salamanders and turtles. A preparatory phase is occasionally observed …
Benthic-Pelagic Coupling In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Estuaries: Do Benthos Feed Directly On Phytoplankton?, Gary R. Gaston, Carol M. Cleveland, Steven S. Brown, Chet F. Rakocinski
Benthic-Pelagic Coupling In Northern Gulf Of Mexico Estuaries: Do Benthos Feed Directly On Phytoplankton?, Gary R. Gaston, Carol M. Cleveland, Steven S. Brown, Chet F. Rakocinski
Gulf and Caribbean Research
Few of the dominant benthic taxa of the northern Gulf of Mexico feed directly on phytoplankton. Rather, most of them feed on near-bottom seston and detritus. This is in contrast to models for Chesapeake Bay and San Francisco Bay. We found that detritivores represented over 80% of the macrobenthic organisms and over 90% of the biomass in Gulf of Mexico estuaries. The paucity of benthos that consumed phytoplankton led us to hypothesize that macrobenthos in Gulf of Mexico estuaries had less effect on plankton communities than was documented in U.S. east coast and west coast estuaries, where benthic communities consumed …