Title: Planktivory
1Planktivory
2Planktivory
Suspension feeders Animals that process large
quantities of water through a feeding apparatus
(gill rakers, baleen). Gill rakers trap
particles such as zooplankton, phytoplankton and
detritus.
3(No Transcript)
4Includes manta rays, basking shark, whale shark,
megamouth, paddlefish, gizzard shad, menhaden,
and bighead carp.
5- Feeding strategies
- A) Obligate and faculative planktivores
- Most fish are planktivorous at some point in
their life, either as holoplankton or
meroplankton. - Facultative planktivores (ex. sunfishes) are
opportunistic feeders. Prey selection depends on
food availability - Obligate planktivores (ex. blueblack herring,
Atlantic Menhaden) feed exclusively on plankton
6- B) Ram feeding and suction feeding
- Ram feeding creates a forward motion in which
water is delivered into the mouth opens mouth
wide as possible and rams prey - continuous ram feeders
- intermittent ram feeders
- Suction feeding predator remains relatively
stationary, comes close to prey and then sucks
prey in. - continuous suction feeders
- intermittent suction feeders
Suction feeder
Nonsuction feeder
7Jaw Protrusion
Sling-jaw wrasse
8- Ram Feeders
- Continuous
- Intermittent
9Continuous ram feeders (tow-net)- water passes
continuously through mouth, over gills and exits
through gill slits or operculum. 20 species
fish In fish extensive elaboration of the
branchial (gill) apparatus
10- Manta Ray
- They have no teeth.
- Cephalic flaps channel water containing plankton
into mouth - To prevent gills from clogging, a screen of small
tiny protuberances located in the throat, hold
the food until it can be swallowed.
11Megamouth, Basking Shark and Whale Shark-
Generally these planktivorous sharks have tiny
numerous teeth and elongated gill rakers. The
gill rakers help to strain plankton.
12- Basking shark- (10 meters long)
- Swims about 2 knots with mouth open and
bristle-like gill rakers erect while filtering
particulate matter - It then closes its mouth forcing water over the
gills it is an indiscriminate planktivore - Has five pairs of gill slits and can filters 540
liters zooplankton/day and over 1500 gallons of
water/ hour (1850 m3 water/hour) - Basking sharks caught between Oct. And Dec., no
visible gill rakers were found, but had immature
or functionless, incompletely developed rakers
(possibly has a resting, non feeding stage).
Re-grows gill rakers by February.
13- Paddlefish- Order Acipenseriformes
- freshwater, rarely brackish found in China and
the US - gill rakers are long and in the hundreds- used
for plankton feeding, minute teeth are present - Polyodon spathula (US- Mississippi drainage)-
plankton-feeding non protrusible mouth - Psephurus gladius (China- Yangtze River)-
piscivorous with a protrusible mouth
14Continuous ram feeding
15- Intermittent ram feeders
- takes one gulp of water at a time, extracts
particles and repeats the process - In using this method, the predator needs to be
able to grab prey before it moves out of the way. - Seen in whales, not sure about in fish????
16- Suction Feeders
- Continuous
- Intermittent
17- Continuous suction feeders (pump filter feeders)-
creates and osculatory pump and draws water in
over sieving device. Animal remains still while
suctioning. - Ammocetes (lamprey larvae)-spends 3-7 years
filter feeding and burrows into sand - Feeding
- a current of water is drawn in by muscular
action - water enters buccal cavity and washes over gills
- uses gills to filter particles for food
- in ammocetes, filtering linked to breathing.
18- Intermittent suction feeders (intermediate
feeding) - relatively unspecialized
- intermediate condition between ram and suction
feeding on individual prey - they dont alter their swimming speed or
direction to focus attention on individual
plankton.
19Diurnal and Nocturnal Planktivores
20Diurnal Planktivores
- Typically feed by forming aggregations in the
water column - prey- swimming crustacea, larvaceans and fish
eggs - largely transparent except for some pigments on
eyes or gut and usually small size (lt 3mm in
size) - Planktivore
- find modifications to jaw, head and dentition
usually small mouth, reduced or absent
teeth - jaw protrusion mainly functions to produce
suction - In Chromis viridis- uses ram-jaw, low suction to
capture evasive prey, but decrease jaw protrusion
and increase suction when prey are less evasive
21Diurnal Planktivory
adaptations - streamlining and deeply forked
caudal fins aggregation ecology-feed along the
reef edge mainly on transient zooplankton from
open water the fish depend on water currents to
supply them with food may feed in stationary
aggregations
22Crepuscular changeover- diurnal fish leave
typically in order of small fish first.mid
sized . then large Very active time. In
nocturnal species- fish enter waters above the
reef at night fall by size order (small to larger)
23Nocturnal Planktivores
- Difficulty in visually locating prey in dim light
- adaptation- large eyes ex. squirrel fish
- Feed on larger zooplankton Hobson Chess found
that even the smallest nocturnal reef
planktivores are limited to zooplankters larger
than 1 mm whereas diurnal planktivores with
similar feeding structures have been found to
feed primarily on organisms smaller than 1 mm. - Possibly due to
- 1.) inability to see smaller ones
- 2.) more efficient
- 3.) prey more vulnerable
24- Adaptations to nocturnal threats from predators
- streamlined bodies and deeply forked tails are
less developed- possibly due to less threat to
attack after dark - less aggregation occurs at night
- countershading using luminescent organs
- Nocturnal planktivores more widespread throughout
reef than diurnal counterparts
ctenophore