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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Mucus Entrapment Of Particles By A Suspension-Feeding Tilapia (Pisces: Cichlidae), S. Laurie Sanderson, Michael C. Stebar, K. Lara Ackermann, Samuel H. Jones, Ioannis E. Batjakas, Les Kaufman
Mucus Entrapment Of Particles By A Suspension-Feeding Tilapia (Pisces: Cichlidae), S. Laurie Sanderson, Michael C. Stebar, K. Lara Ackermann, Samuel H. Jones, Ioannis E. Batjakas, Les Kaufman
Arts & Sciences Articles
A miniature fiberoptic endoscope was used to observe the processes of particle encounter and retention inside the buccopharyngeal cavity of suspension-feeding tilapia. Small particles (38 µm to 1.0 mm in diameter) were trapped in strands and aggregates of mucus, which usually slid posteriorly on the ceratobranchials of arches IIV towards the esophagus while the fish pumped water through the buccopharyngeal cavity. During stage 1 of periodic reversals of water flow inside the buccopharynx, mucus-bound particles usually lifted off the arch surfaces and travelled a short distance in an anterior or anterodorsal direction. During stage 2 of a reversal, the mucus …