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Are brachiopods better than bivalves? Mechanisms of turbidity tolerance and their interaction with feeding in articulates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Charles W. Thayer
Charles W. Thayer*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104; and Department of Malacology, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia
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Abstract

The dominance of Paleozoic articulate brachiopods in once-muddy environments may be explained by an array of mechanisms and structures that reject nonfood particles, in some cases without interruption of feeding: (1) behavioral flexibility of the lophophore and its individual filaments; (2) persistent, variable-speed rejection currents on the mantle, which sometimes concentrate pseudofeces in topographically controlled vortices; (3) costae and alae (which have many other probable functions); (4) inhalant currents elevated above substrate; (5) marginal setae.

Some mantle currents parallel (and presumably augment) lophophore feeding currents; others diverge up to 90° to provide rejection while feeding continues. Contrary to previous reports, the lateral cilia seem to be involved in rejection and may reverse.

Repeated claims for the superiority of the gill of suspension-feeding bivalves over the “weak” individual filaments of the lophophore are probably false. In suspension-feeding bivalves, simultaneous feeding and rejection are likely to be hindered by fused gill elements and mucus-trapping of food. The energetically efficient articulates are predicted to have a competitive advantage over suspension-feeding bivalves when oxygen or food is limiting, as, for example, after a bolide impact.

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Paleobiology , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , Spring 1986 , pp. 161 - 174
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Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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