Suction Feeding in the Pipid Frog, Hymenochirus boettgeri: Kinematic and Behavioral Considerations

Copeia ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 (4) ◽  
pp. 879-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mason N. Dean
Keyword(s):  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Hymenochirus Boettgeri

scholarly journals The benefits of planar circular mouths on suction feeding performance

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (73) ◽  
pp. 1767-1773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tyler Skorczewski ◽  
Angela Cheer ◽  
Peter C. Wainwright
Keyword(s):  
Prey Capture ◽  
Peak Flow ◽  
Mouth Opening ◽  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Flow Rates ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Enhance Efficiency ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Dynamics Simulations ◽  
Hydrodynamic Effects

Suction feeding is the most common form of prey capture across aquatic feeding vertebrates and many adaptations that enhance efficiency and performance are expected. Many suction feeders have mechanisms that allow the mouth to form a planar and near-circular opening that is believed to have beneficial hydrodynamic effects. We explore the effects of the flattened and circular mouth opening through computational fluid dynamics simulations that allow comparisons with other mouth profiles. Compared to mouths with lateral notches, we find that the planar mouth opening results in higher flow rates into the mouth and a region of highest flow that is positioned at the centre of the mouth aperture. Planar mouths provide not only for better total fluid flow rates through the mouth but also through the centre of the mouth near where suction feeders position their prey. Circular mouths are shown to provide the quickest capture times for spherical and elliptical prey because they expose the prey item to a large region of high flow. Planar and circular mouths result in higher flow velocities with peak flow located at the centre of the mouth opening and they maximize the capacity of the suction feeders to exert hydrodynamic forces on the prey.

scholarly journals More than Meets the Eye: Functionally Salient Changes in Internal Bone Architecture Accompany Divergence in Cichlid Feeding Mode

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Craig Albertson ◽  
W. James Cooper ◽  
Kenneth A. Mann
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Dominant Mode ◽  
Bone Architecture ◽  
Foraging Strategies ◽  
Craniofacial Skeleton ◽  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Foraging Mode ◽  
Feeding Mode ◽  
Adaptive Radiations ◽  
African Cichlids

African cichlids have undergone extensive and repeated adaptive radiations in foraging habitat. While the external morphology of the cichlid craniofacial skeleton has been studied extensively, biomechanically relevant changes to internal bone architecture have been largely overlooked. Here we explore two fundamental questions: (1) Do changes in the internal architecture of bone accompany shifts in foraging mode? (2) What is the genetic basis for this trait? We focus on the maxilla, which is an integral part of the feeding apparatus and an element that should be subjected to significant bending forces during biting. Analyses of μCT scans revealed clear differences between the maxilla of two species that employ alternative foraging strategies (i.e., biting versus suction feeding). Hybrids between the two species exhibit maxillary geometries that closely resemble those of the suction feeding species, consistent with a dominant mode of inheritance. This was supported by the results of a genetic mapping experiment, where suction feeding alleles were dominant to biting alleles at two loci that affect bone architecture. Overall, these data suggest that the internal structure of the cichlid maxilla has a tractable genetic basis and that discrete shifts in this trait have accompanied the evolution of alternate feeding modes.

Evaluating the use of ram and suction during prey capture by cichlid fishes

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (17) ◽  
pp. 3039-3051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Wainwright ◽  
Lara A. Ferry-Graham ◽  
Thomas B. Waltzek ◽  
Andrew M. Carroll ◽  
C. Darrin Hulsey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Predator Species ◽  
Cichlid Fishes ◽  
Major Constraint ◽  
Exponential Decline ◽  
Astronotus Ocellatus ◽  
Limited Variation ◽  
Jaw Protrusion

SUMMARYWe characterized prey-capture strategies in seven species of cichlid fishes representing diverse trophic habits and anticipated feeding abilities. The species examined were Petenia splendida, Cichla ocellaris, Cichlasoma minckleyi, Astronotus ocellatus, Crenicichla geayi, Heros severus (formerly Cichlasoma severum) and Cyprichromis leptosoma. Three individuals per species were filmed with video at 500Hz as they captured live adult Artemia sp. and Poecilia reticulata. For each feeding sequence, we measured the contribution of predator movement towards the prey (i.e. ram) and the movement of prey towards the predator due to suction. The use of ram differed significantly among prey types and predator species, varying as much as sixfold across predator species. High values of ram resulted in high attack velocities. Jaw protrusion contributed as much as 50% to overall ram values in some species, verifying its role in enhancing attack velocity. Suction distance did not vary significantly among species. Diversity in prey-capture behavior was therefore found to reflect differences among species in the strategy used to approach prey. Limited variation in the distance from which prey were sucked into the mouth is interpreted as the result of an expected exponential decline in water velocity with distance from the mouth of the suction-feeding predator. We propose that this relationship represents a major constraint on the distance over which suction feeding is effective for all aquatic-feeding predators.

The Tadpole of Hymenochirus boettgeri

Copeia ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 1962 (2) ◽  
pp. 272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otto M. Sokol
Keyword(s):  
Hymenochirus Boettgeri

scholarly journals Hydrodynamic modelling of aquatic suction performance and intra-oral pressures: limitations for comparative studies

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam Van Wassenbergh ◽  
Peter Aerts ◽  
Anthony Herrel
Keyword(s):  
Hydrodynamic Force ◽  
Ambient Pressure ◽  
Simple Relationship ◽  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Aquatic Animals ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Pharyngeal Cavity ◽  
Oral Pressure ◽  
Direct Indication ◽  
Suction Performance

The magnitude of sub-ambient pressure inside the bucco-pharyngeal cavity of aquatic animals is generally considered a valuable metric of suction feeding performance. However, these pressures do not provide a direct indication of the effect of the suction act on the movement of the prey item. Especially when comparing suction performance of animals with differences in the shape of the expanding bucco-pharyngeal cavity, the link between speed of expansion, water velocity, force exerted on the prey and intra-oral pressure remains obscure. By using mathematical models of the heads of catfishes, a morphologically diverse group of aquatic suction feeders, these relationships were tested. The kinematics of these models were fine-tuned to transport a given prey towards the mouth in the same way. Next, the calculated pressures inside these models were compared. The results show that no simple relationship exists between the amount of generated sub-ambient pressure and the force exerted on the prey during suction feeding, unless animals of the same species are compared. Therefore, for evaluating suction performance in aquatic animals in future studies, the focus should be on the flow velocities in front of the mouth, for which a direct relationship exists with the hydrodynamic force exerted on prey.

5. How amphibians feed

2021 ◽  
pp. 82-89
Author(s):  
T. S. Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Alternative Method

‘How amphibians feed’ studies how amphibians feed. Adult amphibians are all carnivores, mostly eating invertebrates. The most effective way for an amphibian to feed when it is under water is to get as close to its prey as possible, then open its mouth suddenly and widely to suck the food in with a stream of water. However, this kind of suction feeding is no use on land. Amphibians feeding on land must use an alternative method. The most common is to have a sticky tongue that can be protruded from the mouth to capture the prey. Another alternative method is to have strong jaws that can grasp the prey directly.

scholarly journals Suction Feeding by Small Organisms: Performance Limits in Larval Vertebrates and Carnivorous Plants

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 852-863
Author(s):  
Stephen M Deban ◽  
Roi Holzman ◽  
Ulrike K Müller
Keyword(s):  
High Power ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Specific Power ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Performance Limits ◽  
Elastic Recoil ◽  
Suction Feeding ◽  
Aquatic Vertebrates ◽  
Suction Flow

Abstract Suction feeding has evolved independently in two highly disparate animal and plant systems, aquatic vertebrates and carnivorous bladderworts. We review the suction performance of animal and plant suction feeders to explore biomechanical performance limits for aquatic feeders based on morphology and kinematics, in the context of current knowledge of suction feeding. While vertebrates have the greatest diversity and size range of suction feeders, bladderworts are the smallest and fastest known suction feeders. Body size has profound effects on aquatic organismal function, including suction feeding, particularly in the intermediate flow regime that tiny organisms can experience. A minority of tiny organisms suction feed, consistent with model predictions that generating effective suction flow is less energetically efficient and also requires more flow-rate specific power at small size. Although the speed of suction flows generally increases with body and gape size, some specialized tiny plant and animal predators generate suction flows greater than those of suction feeders 100 times larger. Bladderworts generate rapid flow via high-energy and high-power elastic recoil and suction feed for nutrients (relying on photosynthesis for energy). Small animals may be limited by available muscle energy and power, although mouth protrusion can offset the performance cost of not generating high suction pressure. We hypothesize that both the high energetic costs and high power requirements of generating rapid suction flow shape the biomechanics of small suction feeders, and that plants and animals have arrived at different solutions due in part to their different energy budgets.

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