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Filter Feeder
(redirected from Suspension feeding)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
filter feeder [′fil·tər ‚fēd·ər]
(invertebrate zoology)
A microphagous organism that uses complex filtering mechanisms to trap particles suspended in water.

Filter Feeder 

an aquatic animal that feeds on minute planktonic organisms or suspended particles, which it filters from the water. Active filter feeders, including many crustaceans, tunicates, and whalebone whales, draw water through external or internal filtration organs by moving their cilia or extremities or contracting their muscles. Passive filter feeders make use of water currents. For example, sea lillies have branches with numerous feathery outgrowths, which they spread in the direction of the current, creating a complex, immobile filtration network. Filter feeders often combine suspension feeding with deposit feeding. Filter feeders include many marine and freshwater species. Some species, for example, marine mussels, play an important role in purifying sea water of slime in coastal regions.



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The accumulated sediments in these developing estuaries provided habitat for benthic vascular plants and suspension feeding bivalves (DePratter & Howard 1981).
As the AUV tracked above the bottom at a particularly dynamic area of the reef called Hydrographers Passage, about 200 km off the mainland, a vast sandy dune field supporting an extensive community of the luminescent, suspension feeding brittle stars (relatives of sea stars) came into view for the first time.
Underwater/mouth swim--A larva moves forward in the water column as a result of its suspension feeding movements, not by flexing its body.
 
 
 
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