#their filter feeding apparatus becomes a thyroid gland too!! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

fishyfishyfishtimes · 10 months ago

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Daily fish fact #685

Lampreys!

While some lampreys turn to a parasitic lifestyle as adults, drilling into the sides of bigger animals to feed on their flesh and blood, lamprey larvae, ammocoetes, are actually filter feeders! The lamprey larva life stage can last up to a decade, and they spend their time being half-buried in sandy substrate, consuming whatever tiny organic particles float to them. Ammocoetes' feeding rate is the slowest of any suspension-feeding animal, and due to this they require a habitat very rich in nutrients.

#i might as well use that information i researched about lampreys to make that one propaganda post to some good use!#and... woah. lampreys are so cool? they dont have eyes as larvae so when they metamorphose they literally gain the ability to see images.#imagine! youve gone your whole life only sensing light but then you metamorhose and you gain eyes and teeth and can start swimming #how does that feel? are they... surprised? i bet the ones that travel to saltwater experience things they never thought they would #of course im putting my own human emotions on them but... okay. just imagine how crazy it would be!?#their filter feeding apparatus becomes a thyroid gland too!!?!?? thats so insane!!!!! what wonderful animals i cant believe im only now -#learning of this!!!!! like their body transformation can tell us about vertebrate evolution!!!!#lamprey #fish #fishfact #fish facts #biology #zoology #fishblr

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