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Selective Feeding of Tubificids on Bacteria

Abstract

THE characteristic abundance of tubificid worms in the benthic ooze of sewage outfalls, their curious up-ended posture and sedentary feeding habit suggest a saprobic, non-selective type of nutrition. Feeding has been interpreted as a continuous process of indiscriminate ingestion and pumping of an endless column of sapropel through the digestive tract1. We have gathered evidence, however, which does not support this generalization, but indicates selective feeding.

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References

  1. Ruttner, F., Fundamentals of Limnology (Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1963).

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COLER, R., GUNNER, H. & ZUCKERMAN, B. Selective Feeding of Tubificids on Bacteria. Nature 216, 1143–1144 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2161143a0

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