filter feeder

filter feeder

any MICROPHAGOUS marine or freshwater animal that creates currents, usually by ciliary action, so that food particles are carried either into the body cavity, as is the case in, for example, the sea-squirt, or across the gills where the particles are trapped in MUCUS which is carried, again by ciliary action, into the entrance to the gut system. The freshwater clam, Anodonta, is an example of the latter type of filter feeder.