Pseudofaeces

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As Pseudofaeces or Scheinkot ( ancient Greek ψευδής pseudes "false", "false" and Latin Faex "dregs, feces ") food residues are those issued by filter feeders - especially mussels not swallowed but are given back to the surrounding water -.

With its cilia (eyelashes) on its mantle and gills, the mussel creates a stream of water through which not only dissolved oxygen but also food particles - detritus , phytoplankton and zooplankton - are swirled in. The gills are coated with mucus, on which the particles stick and are carried to the mouth by eyelash bands. Particles that are unsuitable for food are not swallowed, but rolled up in mostly egg-shaped slime packages and released as pseudofaeces from the mantle cavity via the water flowing outwards.

As a result of the agglomeration, the pseudofaeces particles sediment on the ground much faster than the previously tumbled in particles, whereby the mussels - apart from the fact that they take up a considerable part of the suspended matter as food - contribute significantly to the clarification of the seawater.

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