VPP 322: Aquatic Animal Diseases, Health Care and Management (1+1)

GILL RAKERS 

• Gill rakers help the fish in filtering the food material and prevent its escape from the buccal cavity through gill slit.
• In piscivores, gill rakers partially descale fish as they pass by the raker
• In omnivores, they are short and stumpy
• In herbivores, they form a broad sieve like structure across the gill slits for filtering the water to retain the food in the buccopharynx.
• In plankton feeder (Tenualosa ilisha), gill rakers are long and thin and form a perfect sieve to retain plankton in the buccal cavity.