FLOW AND FEEDING IN FAN-SHAPED COLONIES OF THE GORGONIAN CORAL, LEPTOGORGIA
Open Access
- 1 October 1976
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The Biological Bulletin
- Vol. 151 (2) , 344-356
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1540667
Abstract
Field studies demonstrate that the gorgonian coral Leptogorgia virgulata assumes a fan-shaped morphology oriented at right angles to prevailing tidal currents. Laboratory studies using a recirculating water tunnel and Artemia salina nauplii as food show that fan-shaped colonies oriented perpendicular to water currents capture more Artemia per unit time than the same colonies oriented parallel to water currents. Several feeding strategies which may operate at various current speeds are suggested. Possible mechanisms controlling feeding response and the selective advantage of colony morphology and orientation as related to feeding and resistance to hydrodynamic forces are discussed.This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- The Rate of Feeding by Mytilus in Different Kinds of SuspensionJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1949