Minireview: Ciliary filter feeding and bio-fluid mechanics—present understanding and unsolved problems

Riisgård, Hans Ulrik, Poul S. Larsen

Limnol. Oceanogr., 46(4), 2001, 882-891 | DOI: 10.4319/lo.2001.46.4.0882

ABSTRACT: The energy cost for various ciliary filter feeders shows that useful pump work constitutes 0.3-1.1% of the total metabolic expenditure. The ‘water processing potential’ (liters of water pumped per milliliter O₂ consumed by the animal) is a useful tool for characterizing filter feeding and adaptation to the environment. The six types of ciliary-capture mechanisms (collar sieving, cirral trapping, ciliary sieving, ciliary downstream collecting, ciliary upstream collecting, mucus-net sieving) are reviewed as well as the aerosol/hydrosol filtration theory. A brief overview of fluid mechanical principles and tools for studying ciliary functions is given.