Talk:Filter feeder

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Considering that certain "nutrients" are being filtered out of the environment (i.e. water), is this kind of feeding detrimental to the ecosystem? Folajimi 13:28, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Not more so than any other means of feeding any other organism, which all remove something from the "environment". What is your "environment", anyway? Lupo 09:03, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and does your definition of "ecosystem" not include animals or other living organisms? Lupo 09:04, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Are filter feeders and suspension feeders the same? I always use the definition of suspension feeders passively removing food from the water column, while filter feeders create a current which then brings water and particles to the feeding apparatus (ala some amphipods).Celticbattlepants 14:37, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Parasitic barnacles

Certainly not all barnacles are filter feeders, as the article currently proclaims. The genus Sacculina are parasitic on crabs. What gives? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.237.66.50 (talk) 07:51, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Fixed. HCA (talk) 17:23, 17 November 2015 (UTC)

Pop Cultural Reference

During a Richard Dawkins lecture entitled "Paranormal or Perinormal", he characterized the city of Las Vegas as a Filter-feeder. That is, it has a flow of people, rather than water, presumably leaving a portion of their money behind as they are filtered through the city. It is an interesting analogy, and may be worth mentioning in the article (I know that pop culture references work their way into the articles from time to time).--76.104.90.6 (talk) 09:09, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Structure - rewrite needed

This article is basically a list of unrelated examples of filter feeding. What is required is a structured article that discusses the various structural and functional adaptations that enable filter feeding to work, and probably some discussion of the phylogeny involved (how many times did it evolve, etc). Chiswick Chap (talk) 15:47, 11 November 2017 (UTC)

Nightjars

I think an argument could be made that nightjars (family Caprimulgidae) represent a very crude form of aerial filter feeding, the only instance of a terrestrial animal employing this technique. Nightjars feed by flying directly into swarms of small insects, and using their wide mouths-- which are surrounded by a funnel of bristles-- to scoop up their swarming prey. By doing this they can eat many small insects in a single pass.

This is not dissimilar to the technique used by passive scoop-feeders such as manta rays and basking sharks.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.71.166.188 (talk • contribs)

Can you provide a reliable source to verify this? Otherwise, Wikipedia can not publish WP:original research or WP:synthesis.--Mr Fink (talk) 23:31, 8 April 2021 (UTC)

Sadly, I was unable to find any academic sources specifically regarding the feeding habits of nightjars. However, this blog post: (https://atowhee.blog/2011/06/13/chordeiles-minor-a-wonder-to-be-held/?fbclid=IwAR1w6WRT1yN1ZqPqM64DAnq6gPkg8NLvfIcW_OkuxKe_2ati4raKvyBhn34) goes into detail about the specialized anatomy of nightjars. It also contains a photo of a nightjar with a "clump" of undigested insects in its throat, clearly showing that they do not swallow small insects one at a time.