Abstract
Members of the phylum Pogonophora are unique among free-living Metazoa in being without an internal digestive system at any stage in their life history1. Until recently very little real evidence has been obtained as to how they feed. To some extent the lack of knowledge of the physiology of the group results from the difficulty in collecting and working with predominantly deep water benthic animals3 and it has been necessary to rely on anatomical and histological data. By analogy with tube-living polychaete worms it has been suggested that the tentacle or tentacles might collect particulate food, which might then be digested and assimilated in temporary “stomachs” formed by the adjoined or rolled-up tentacles1. This theory is rendered less likely by the lack of ciliation of the tentacles of many species and by the absence of any real glandular development that might be associated with digestion4,5, and an alternative hypothesis has therefore been put forward: that pogonophores rely on direct absorption of organic matter from seawater or from the mud in which they live4. Certainly, the fine structure of the cuticle covering the tentacle and the rest of the body shows it to be well fitted for absorption or assimilation (refs. 6 and 7 and our unpublished results).
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References
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SOUTHWARD, A., SOUTHWARD, E. Uptake and Incorporation of Labelled Glycine by Pogonophores. Nature 218, 875–876 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/218875a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/218875a0
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