1. Separating oil from water: suspension-feeding goldfish ingest liquid vegetable oil
- Author
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Edwards, Kristin M., Rice, Gary W., and Sanderson, S. Laurie
- Subjects
Goldfish -- Environmental aspects ,Vegetable oils -- Environmental aspects ,Earth sciences - Abstract
We show that goldfish (Carassius auratus) voluntarily ingest liquid canola oil at the surface of the water and can swallow significant quantities of oil. The ability of fish to separate floating oil from water has not been tested previously, and the mechanisms used to retain oil in the form of suspended droplets, globules, or a surface film are unknown. Chromatograms of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) prepared from gut samples confirmed that goldfish were able to obtain a substantial proportion of their daily lipid intake from canola oil at the surface of laboratory aquaria. Quantification of goldfish suspension-feeding, processing, and spitting behavior suggested that upper jaw protrusion with a closed mouth during processing was important for the handling of different food types, including oil. Crossflow filtration and the generation of vortices could be involved in oil retention by goldfish, as these processes are used industrially to separate oil from water. These results have implications for the uptake of hydrophobic pollutants and dietary lipids at the surface by suspension-feeding fishes. Nous demontrons que le carassin dore (Carassius auratus) ingere volontairement de l'huile de canola liquide a la surface de l'eau et peut avaler d'importantes quantites d'huile. La capacite des poissons de separer de l'eau l'huile qui flotte n'a pas encore ete verifiee, et les mecanismes utilises pour retenir l'huile sous forme de gouttelettes suspendues, de globules ou de film superficiel ne sont pas connus. Des chromatogrammes d'esters methyliques d'acide gras (EMAG) prepares a partir d'echantillons de tubes digestifs confirment que les carassins dores sont capables d'obtenir une proportion importante de leur apport quotidien en lipides de l'huile de canola a la surface d'aquariums de laboratoire. La quantification du comportement de consommation de matieres en suspension, de traitement et de rejet par les carassins dores donne a penser que la protrusion de la machoire superieure pendant que la bouche est fermee durant le traitement est importante pour traiter differents types d'aliments, dont l'huile. La filtration perpendiculaire a l'ecoulement et la production de vortex pourraient intervenir dans la retention d'huile par les carassins dores, ces processus etant utilises dans l'industrie pour separer l'huile de l'eau. Ces resultats ont des repercussions en ce qui concerne l'ingestion de contaminants hydrophobes et de lipides alimentaires a la surface de l'eau par les poissons qui se nourrissent de matieres en suspension. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Suspension-feeding fishes with economic and ecological importance, including carp, menhaden, and many tilapia, can filter particles as small as 5 microns from enormous volumes of water (Beveridge et al. [...]
- Published
- 2017
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