The mechanism of food ingestion by the banana prawn,<i>Penaeus merguiensis</i>

Abstract

Food passed by the chelate pereiopods to the mouthparts of Penaeus merguiensis de Man is propelled dorsally to the mouth through a pre‐oral cavity made up of the setal fringes of the first two pairs of maxillipeds and the two pairs of maxillae. The setal fringes interdigitate and move with a ratchet action. Food is sheared off and crushed by the mandibles, pushed into the oesophagus by the setae on the labrum and prevented from escaping from the mouth by the paragnaths and labrum. In addition to setae, the endopods of the second maxillipeds and the paragnaths have glands the pores of which open on to their surfaces. Non food items are expelled by downward directed movements of the appendages forming the pre‐oral cavity.