mucophagy

{{Short description|Feeding on mucus of fishes or invertebrates}}

{{for|more information on human mucophagy|Eating mucus}}

Mucophagy (literally "mucus feeding") is defined as the act of feeding on mucus of fishes or invertebrates.{{Cite journal|last=Thresher|first=Ronald E.|date=1979|title=Possible Mucophagy by Juvenile Holacanthus tricolor (Pisces: Pomacanthidae)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1443747|journal=Copeia|volume=1979|issue=1|pages=160–162|doi=10.2307/1443747|jstor=1443747 |issn=0045-8511|url-access=subscription}} Also, it may refer to consumption of mucus or dried mucus in primates.

There are mucophagous parasites, such as some types of sea lice that attach themselves to gill segments of fish.[http://gemi.mpl.ird.fr/cepm/SiteWebESS/Fr/deMeeus/SeaLice93a.pdf Pathogenesis of Wild and Farmed Seafish] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061116224614/http://gemi.mpl.ird.fr/cepm/SiteWebESS/Fr/deMeeus/SeaLice93a.pdf|date=2006-11-16}} In addition, these mucophages may serve as cleaners of other animals, usually fishes.{{Cite journal|last=Gorlick|first=Dennis L.|date=1980|title=Ingestion of Host Fish Surface Mucus by the Hawaiian Cleaning Wrasse, Labroides phthirophagus (Labridae), and Its Effect on Host Species Preference|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1444466|journal=Copeia|volume=1980|issue=4|pages=863–868|doi=10.2307/1444466|jstor=1444466 |issn=0045-8511|url-access=subscription}}

Another usage of this term is in reference to the feeding organ rich in mucous cells in which water is pumped, feeding particles get entrapped in mucus, and the latter proceeds into the esophagus.{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF00004638 | doi=10.1007/BF00004638 | title=The epibranchial organ, its innervation and its probable functioning in Heterotis niloticus (Pisces, teleostei, osteoglossidae) | year=1993 | last1=Bauchot | first1=Roland | last2=Ridet | first2=Jean-Marc | last3=Diagne | first3=Monique | journal=Environmental Biology of Fishes | volume=37 | issue=3 | pages=307–315 | bibcode=1993EnvBF..37..307B | s2cid=9644212 | url-access=subscription }}