Artigo Acesso aberto Revisado por pares

Prey detection in a cruising copepod

2011; Royal Society; Volume: 8; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1098/rsbl.2011.1073

ISSN

1744-957X

Autores

Sanne Kjellerup, Thomas Kiørboe,

Tópico(s)

Marine Invertebrate Physiology and Ecology

Resumo

Small cruising zooplankton depend on remote prey detection and active prey capture for efficient feeding. Direct, passive interception of prey is inherently very inefficient at low Reynolds numbers because the viscous boundary layer surrounding the approaching predator will push away potential prey. Yet, direct interception has been proposed to explain how rapidly cruising, blind copepods feed on non-motile phytoplankton prey. Here, we demonstrate a novel mechanism for prey detection in a cruising copepod, and describe how motile and non-motile prey are discovered by hydromechanical and tactile or, likely, chemical cues, respectively.

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