Feeding in Suctoria starts with the attachment of the prey to the tips of tentacles, long, threadlike tubes. This is followed by a rapid flow of the cytoplasm of the still living prey through the attached tentacles to the body of the predator. It was generally believed that this peculiar way of feeding is accomplished by suction and the name Suctoria is based on that assumption. Recent electron microscope studies supplied new information that undermines suction as the driving force in suctorian feeding.
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Maria A. Rudzinska (1973) studied this question.
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