THE FEEDING MECHANISM IN THE SAND DOLLAR MELLITA SEXIESPERFORATA (LESKE)
Open Access
- 1 August 1960
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The Biological Bulletin
- Vol. 119 (1) , 80-86
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1538935
Abstract
M. sexie-sperforata lives in the surface layers of sand in shallow water. It is a microphagous feeder, Sand is pushed onto the aboral surface and sorted by club-shaped spines. Fine particles drop down between the spines and are carried round to the oral surface by ciliary currents, thence to the ambulacral grooves where a food cord is formed and transported to the mouth by podia. Other podia all over the oral surface play an accessory role in food gathering. Mucus is probably secreted by miliary spines on the aboral surface. Defecation is an intermittent process and feeding stops while it is in progress.This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Changes in the chalk heart-urchinMicrasterInterpreted in relation to living formsPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. B, Biological Sciences, 1959
- NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF THE FIVE-LUNULED SAND DOLLARThe Biological Bulletin, 1958