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Science 31 October 1980:
Vol. 210. no. 4469, pp. 562 - 564
DOI: 10.1126/science.210.4469.562
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Articles

Induction of Suspension Feeding in Spionid Polychaetes by High Particulate Fluxes

GARY L. TAGHON 1, ARTHUR R. M. NOWELL 1, and PETER A. JUMARS 1

1 Department of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle 98195

The feeding behavior of three species of spionid polychaetes varied with water velocity. At moderate flows the worms ceased deposit feeding, formed their feeding tentacles into helices, and lifted them into the water column to capture material in suspension. This behavior was apparently a response to increased flux of suspended matter at high flows rather than to flow velocity alone. Organisms capable of switching their feeding behavior may be common in dynamically variable benthic environments.

Submitted on May 19, 1980


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Identification and Activity-Dependent Labeling of Peripheral Sensory Structures on a Spionid Polychaete.
S. M. Lindsay, T. J. Riordan Jr., and D. Forest (2004)
Biol. Bull. 206, 65-77
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The macrofaunal communities of the Skeffling muds (Humber estuary), with special reference to bioturbation.
J. T. Davey and V. A. Partridge (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 139, 115-124
   Abstract »    PDF »


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