Mouth field

Funnel-like widened ciliate mouth of the trumpet animal Stentor coeruleus .

Mouth field of a common frog tadpole. 1: delimitation of the mouth field; 2: limitation of the mouth opening; 3: Rows of lip teeth

In zoology, the mouth area or peristome is the area around the mouth of animals. The term peristome is also used in botany and mycology (→ peristome (botany) ).

Unicellular organisms

In some unicellular organisms , the mouth area is a funnel-like indentation that opens into a cytostome (cell mouth), i.e. it is used to absorb food , for example in some ciliate animals . In the area of the mouth there are cilia (eyelashes) which, through rhythmic movements, help to generate a stream of water that swirls food particles into the cell mouth.

In the case of a paramecium , the small food is ingested through such a mouth, then enclosed in a food vacuole at the end of the funnel-shaped indentation in the area of the cell mouth and thus conducted into the central body of the paramecium, where the ingested food is digested within the vacuole .

sea urchin

In echinoderms such as sea urchins , there are also courses around the mouth that serve food intake. This mouth area is also called the peristome in this group of animals.

Snails

Furthermore, the edge of the mouth at the opening of the snail shell is also called the peristome.

Frogs

The mouth region of tadpoles , the larvae of the frog auger, is also called the mouth area. This is made up of horned jaws, numerous rows of upper and lower lip teeth and papillae as the outer edge. Since the arrangement of the rows of teeth is species-specific, the mouth field is suitable for determining the species belonging to tadpoles.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Trumpet Animals , Compact Lexicon of Biology, Spectrum Academic Publishing House, 2001.
^ B. David et al .: The ontogenetic basis of Lovén`s rule clarifies homologies of the echinonid peristome. In: Roland Emson, Andrew Smith, Andrew Campbell (Eds.): Echinoderm Research . CRC Press Date = 1995, ISBN 978-90-5410-596-1 , pp. 155-164 .
↑ Volker Storch, Ulrich Welsch: Short textbook of zoology . 8th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-8274-2967-4 , pp. 696 .
^ Andreas Nöllert, Christel Nöllert: The amphibians of Europe . Franckh-Kosmos, 1992, ISBN 978-3-440-06340-8 , pp. 48 .

[Kompakt-1] Trumpet Animals , Compact Lexicon of Biology, Spectrum Academic Publishing House, 2001.

[2] B. David et al .: The ontogenetic basis of Lovén`s rule clarifies homologies of the echinonid peristome. In: Roland Emson, Andrew Smith, Andrew Campbell (Eds.): Echinoderm Research . CRC Press Date = 1995, ISBN 978-90-5410-596-1 , pp. 155-164 .

[3] Volker Storch, Ulrich Welsch: Short textbook of zoology . 8th edition. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 2004, ISBN 978-3-8274-2967-4 , pp. 696 .

[4] Andreas Nöllert, Christel Nöllert: The amphibians of Europe . Franckh-Kosmos, 1992, ISBN 978-3-440-06340-8 , pp. 48 .