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Comparative microanatomy of the branchial sieve in three sympatric cyprinid species, related to filter‐feeding mechanisms
Author(s) -
Van Den Berg Coen,
Van Snik Geert J. M.,
Van Den Boogaart Jos G. M.,
Sibbing Ferdinand A.,
Osse Jan W. M.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.1052190109
Subject(s) - biology , anatomy , operculum (bryozoa) , rutilus , cyprinidae , zoology , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , genus
According to the reducible‐channel model of filter‐feeding (Hoogenboezem et al., '91), small food particles are retained in the channels between the medial gill rakers, while the mesh size can be reduced by lowering the lateral gill rakers into these channels. This movement requires that all lateral gill rakers have a m. abductor branchiospinalis (MAB). MAB runs from the radii branchiales to the raker feet. It is present on the lateral side of all four gill arches of the cyprinids Abramis brama and Cyprinus carpio but only on the first arch of Blicca bjoerkna, Rutilus rutilus, Ctenopharyngodon idella, Aspius aspius , and Scardinius erythrophthalmus . Therefore, the latter species do not fulfill the structural requirement for the reducible‐channel model, whereas A. brama and C. carpio do. Laboratory and field data confirm that A. brama and C. carpio can reduce their mesh size according to this model and are the better filter‐feeders. The seven cyprinid species studied show the same principal microanatomy of their branchial sieve. M. abductor filamenti is a sheet of muscle fibers between the lateral radii branchiales and the ceratobranchial bone. M. branchialis superficialis is a specialized region of the subepithelial muscle fiber network, with origins along both sides of the ceratobranchial bone. The lateral gill rakers of the first gill arch differ conspicuously from all other rakers. They are longer and flattened, and they are tilted anteriorly. They probably form a sieve across the wide slit between the first gill arch and the operculum. The most revealing anatomical feature is the presence of MABs on gill arches 1–4. It might be a suitable bio‐assay for identifying the better facultative filter‐feeders among cyprinids. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.