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Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 8:52 pm
by RichardGlen
Does anyone know if puffers can digest snail shells or snail shell fragments? I'm kind of thinking they must be able to, since nature designed them to eat snails as a primary food item. I ask because my little ceylon swallowed a small one whole last night. Anyway, anyone know anything about this?
Links removed.
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:36 pm
by jtbadco
i dont think they can 'digest' the shells but they should pass harmlessly
not sure if ceylons are like fahakas (eating-wise) but my fahaka sometimes sucks in smaller snails and instead of crushing them with his teeth he does it with the bony parts inside his mouth and the shells come out the gills?!?
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:25 pm
by J-P
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are those links in your sig to your site? just curious
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:30 pm
by JRC3
I have sigs disabled and I see them.
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 3:08 am
by Pufferpunk
Looks like one of the Mods removed them.
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:33 am
by RTR
Puffer "teeth" are not limited to their incisor plates at the front of their mouth which we see. Those that we see are just for biting and cracking or crushing shells (or coral support structures in SW).
They also have pharyngeal teeth at their throat. Those are for grinding. The shells which are broken by the incisors are passed back to the pharyngeal teeth for finer grinding, with the shell/bone/coral hard structure ground up and passed out through the gills.
Unlike humans, their teeth or modified/fused teeth are not all at the front of their mouths. The functional areas are divided as they are in many vertebrates.
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:19 pm
by c333davis
RTR wrote:The shells which are broken by the incisors are passed back to the pharyngeal teeth for finer grinding, with the shell/bone/coral hard structure ground up and passed out through the gills.
Fascinating. So, do you know whether marine puffers contribute material to the ocean floor the way that parrotfish do? (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrotfish)
(I guess I could look that up online, too, but I thought you might know off of the top of your head, RTR.)
Re: Puffers and snail shells!
Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:28 pm
by RTR
Likely, but certainly not in the same quantity per fish I would think.