Main Content

The World of Protozoa, Rotifera, Nematoda and Oligochaeta

Ref ID : 834

Gustav-Adolf Paffenhofer; Does Paracalanus feed with a leaky sieve? Limnol.Oceanogr. 29(1):155-160, 1984

Reprint

In File

Notes

It has been assumed that calanoid copepods gather and ingest food particles by filtration using their mouthparts which means solely mechanical retention of food particles. Experiments in which juveniles and adult females of Paracalanus were offered a mixture of phytoplankton cells of different sizes show that cells are not eaten in the same proportions as the copepods increase in size. Changes in the proportion of various particles in the diet are attributed to behaviorally mediated changes in copepod feeding patterns.