Other Techniques

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Other Techniques

  1. Suspension Feeding
    • Suspension feeders actively capture food particles from the water with tentacles [1]
    • strategy adopted by members of Anthozoa and Hydrozoa class - includes scleractinian corals, octocorals, and crinoids[1]
    • Example: Corals
      • Supplements food derived from Zooxanthellae [1]
      • Usually occurs at night[1]
      • polyp extends tentacles out from body where they encounter small fish, zooplankton, bacterioplankton, etc. [2]
        • surface of each tentacle has thousands of stinging cells known as nematocyts[2]
        • nematocysts are fired when prey swims or floats by, stunning or killing it before being passed to the mouth of the polyp[2]
      • mucus suspension feeders - some species collect fine particles in mucous film or strands, which are drawn by cilia into the polyp's mouth[2]
    • Example: Crinoids
      • Have finger-like podia occur in triads on both sides of the pinnular ambulacra (need picture/diagram) [3]
      • when suspended food particle touches podia, it flicks, bends, or curls rapidly inward to force food particle into food groove [3]
      • primary podia are adhesive, with role of mucus in capturing food particles varying among species [3]
  2. Filter Feeding
    • Method: filter dissolved and suspended matter from the water by pumping water through filtration structures [1]
    • Example: Sponges [4]
      • water drawn in through incurrent pores by creating current with special collar cells that have whip-like flagella
      • water passes through channels and chambers inside of sponge and particles are taken up from water as food
    • Example: Herrings
    • Example: Manta Rays
  3. Detritivores: Consume dead organic material and return nutrients to the sediment. [5]
    • Definition of dead organic material: animal and plant remains, waste products, and the bacteria/microorganisms associated with waste products [6]
    • At least 3 reef fish families have been identified as feeding heavily on detritus in what is called the "epilithic algal matrix": Surgeonfishes, damselfishes, and blennies [6]
    • Hard Substrate Detritivores (most members of the Ctenochaetus genus) [6]
      • feeding technique: press jaw against substrate and then throw lower jaw upward[6]
      • effectively brushes particulate matter off of rock and dead corals, and also out of turf algae[6]
    • Sediment Detritivores
      • feeding technique: eat mouthfuls of sand and associated debris[6]
      • Example: orange-shoulder surgeonfish[6]
      • Example: Spotted Surgeonfish - Feeds by whisking comb-like teeth over the bottom as it closes its mouth [7]
    • Algal Detritivores
      • Technique: scape algae off of hard surface, along with associated filamentous algae, diatoms, detritus, and sand (eat some algae, but primary source of nutrition is detritus within algae) [8]
      • Example: Combtooth Blennies [8]
    • Mucus-feeders: "consume only coral mucus without removing any other live coral tissue or underlying skeleton" [9]
      • coral mucus contains energy-rich wax esters, fatty acids, and triglycerides, which provide valuable source of energy for many fish [6][9][10]
      • Corals produce a lot of mucus, producing 51-480 mg m^-2 d^-1 [10]
      • Study by Bensen and Muscatine (1974) [11]
        • When coral mucus was artificially dispersed, fish assembled and avidly ingested it
        • Conclusion: coral mucus is an important food source for reef inhabitants and could be an energy source linking the coral producer and small fish consumers in reef communities
      • Example: Ornate Butterfly Fish has been shown to consume large quantities of coral when feeding [6][12]
    • Scavengers
      • Carrion not common on coral reefs [13]
      • One study found that all carrion left on reef was consumed within 24 hours at very rapid rates - indicates that scavenged biomass is tightly recycled within the reef fish community[13]
      • Example: Tiger Shark [14]

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/aquaculture-a-husbandry-4/filter-feeders
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 http://www.coris.noaa.gov/retired/CoRIS_About_Coral_Reefs_archive_2014.pdf
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.nova.edu/ocean/messing/crinoids/8%20Feeding%20mechanism.html
  4. ↑ http://coralreef.noaa.gov/education/educators/resourcecd/lessonplans/resources/sponge_lp.pdf
  5. ↑ http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/media/coral-reef-food-web/?ar_a=1
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/saltwater-conditions/marine-fish-feeding-guilds.aspx
  7. ↑ http://www.fishbase.org/summary/6015
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 http://www.tfhmagazine.com/details/articles/ber-algae-eaters-the-lawnmower-blennies-full-article.htm
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Rotjan, Randi D. "Impact of Coral Predators on Tropical Reefs." Marine Ecology Progress Series 367 (2008): 73-91. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Rotjan" defined multiple times with different content
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Coffroth 1984, http://www.nsm.buffalo.edu/Bio/burr/Publications/4%20Coffroth1984.pdf
  11. ↑ Benson and Muscatine 1974, http://aslo.net/lo/toc/vol_19/issue_5/0810.pdf
  12. ↑ Cole, Andrew J., Morgan S. Pratchett, and Geoffrey P. Jones. "Diversity and Functional Importance of Coral-feeding Fishes on Tropical Coral Reefs." Fish and Fisheries 9 (2008): 1-22.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Rassweiler, Andrew, and Thomas Rassweiler. "Does Rapid Scavenging Hide Non-predation Mortality in Coral-reef Communities?" Marine and Freshwater Research 62 (2011): 510-15.
  14. ↑ http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=37
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