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Krill feeding in a high phytoplankton concentration (slowed by a factor of 12). Filter feeders are aquatic animals that acquire nutrients by feeding on organic matters, food particles or smaller organisms (bacteria, microalgae and zooplanktons) suspended in water, typically by having the water pass over or through a specialized filtering organ that sieves out and/or traps solids.
Articulata are passive suspension feeders. They capture algae with triplets of tube feet located on the pinnules, and the ciliated ambulacral canals transport this algae to the mouth. Although they are passive feeders, some Articulata have been observed to move to better feeding areas either with locomotory mechanisms at the base of the stalk ...
The expansion phase involves the initial opening of the jaws to capture prey. These movements during the expansion phase are similar across all suction feeders with the kinesis of the skull leading to slight variations. During the compression phase, the jaws close and water is compressed out of the gills.
The margins of the valves have a characteristic zig-zag pattern. The lower valve shows finger-like outgrowths, by which the molluscs adhere to the substrate. These molluscs are stationary, epifaunal, suspension feeders, as they feed by filtering sea water to extract the nutrients.
Barnacle adults are sessile; most are suspension feeders with hard calcareous shells, but the Rhizocephala are specialized parasites of other crustaceans, with reduced bodies. Barnacles have existed since at least the mid-Carboniferous, some 325 million years ago.
The lophophore surrounds the mouth and is an upstream collecting system for suspension feeding. Its tentacles are hollow, with extensions of a coelomic space thought to be a mesocoel. The gut is U-shaped with the anterior mouth at the center of the lophophore. The anus, where present, is also anterior, but is dorsal to the mouth.
Nearly all adult tunicates are suspension feeders (the larval form usually does not feed), capturing planktonic particles by filtering sea water through their bodies. Ascidians are typical in their digestive processes, but other tunicates have similar systems.
Metridium dianthus is a suspension feeder, spreading its plume of tentacles and catching small organisms as they float past. These include the eggs and larvae of molluscs , polychaetes , ascidians , amphipods , copepods , barnacles , shrimps and other crustaceans , as well as foraminifera and diatoms .