Abstract
The mucous feeding filter of Chaetopterus variopedatus (Renier and Clapérede) was collected as curled-up mucus and food balls ready for ingestion, and as stretched out mucus films on copper grids, introduced in the mucus bag of actively feeding individuals. By light-, scanning electron-and transmission electron microscopy the mucus film was found to consist of two crossing arrays of parallel filaments with a spacing of 0.76±0.96 μm in one direction and 0.46±0.12 μm (mean±SD) in the other. This film should effectively retain particles with a diameter down to about 0.5 μm, and let through most smaller particles. The possibility of affinity binding to hydrated mucous filaments, even at the molecular level, is also discussed.
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Communicated by T. Fenchel, Aarhus
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Flood, P.R., Fiala-Médioni, A. Structure of the mucous feeding filter of Chaetopterus variopedatus (Polychaeta). Mar. Biol. 72, 27–33 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393944
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00393944