Region: Disko Island, Greenland.
Habitat: in homothermic springs.
ZoologyAnimal; microscopic, 0.1 mm; one of the smallest animals known.
Food: bacteria, blue-green algae, diatoms.
Body: very complicated jaws, with fifteen separate elements, connected by ligaments and muscles; can extend part of its jaw structure outside of its mouth while eating. It also extends much of its jaw structure outside of its mouth when it is regurgitating items that are indigestible.
Nervous: large ganglion or brain in its head, and paired nerve cords extending ventrally. Stiff sensory bristles made up of one to three cilia are scattered about the body.
Flexible cilia are arranged in a horseshoe shaped area on the forehead, and in spots on the sides of the head and in two rows on the underside of the body. The cilia on the forehead create a current that moves food particles towards the mouth. The other cilia move the animal.
Reproduction: all have female organs; two kinds of eggs: thin-walled eggs that hatch quickly, and thick-walled eggs that are believed to be resistant to freezing.
TaxonomyLimnognathia is related to the rotifers and gnathostomulids, the
Gnathifera. At first it was mistaken for a rotifer. It has significant differences in body structure.