A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in the muscular gizzard and used to grind food in animals lacking suitable grinding teeth. In other species the rocks are ingested and pass through the digestive system and are frequently replaced. The grain size depends upon the size of the animal and the gastrolith's role in digestion. Other species use gastroliths as ballast.[1] Particles ranging in size from sand to cobble have been documented.
^Rondeau, et al Larval Anurans Adjust Buoyancy in Response to Substrate Ingestion Copeia: February 2005, Vol. 2005, No. 1, pp. 188-195.
A gastrolith, also called a stomach stone or gizzard stone, is a rock held inside a gastrointestinal tract. Gastroliths in some species are retained in...
the gastroliths found in various specimens appears to be insufficient to modify the buoyancy of these large reptiles. The first plesiosaur gastroliths, found...
evidence that axolotls might seek out appropriately-sized gravel for use as gastroliths based on experiments conducted at the University of Manitoba axolotl...
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to relate to any particular species.[citation needed] Bezoar Coprolite Gastrolith Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature Volume 60, Part 2, 30 June 2003 Archived...
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and thus helping digestion. These stones are called gizzard stones or gastroliths and usually become round and smooth from the polishing action in the...
including ancient dinosaurs, may also act as dropstone agents by ingesting gastroliths and depositing them on land or within standing bodies of water by regurgitation...
larger than peas, are used less often now than they were historically. Gastrolith Woodford, Michael (1960). A manual of falconry. CT Branford Co. p. 171...
prey flesh and bone. Many large crocodilians swallow stones (called gastroliths or stomach stones), which may act as ballast to balance their bodies...
and small prey. Several contemporary sources state that the dodo used Gastroliths (gizzard stones) to aid digestion. The English writer Sir Hamon L'Estrange...
Alligators have a two-part stomach, with the first smaller portion containing gastroliths. It is believed this portion of the stomach serves a similar function...
Baryonyx, Lourinhanosaurus, ornithomimosaurs, and birds, are known to use gastroliths, or gizzard-stones. The majority of theropod teeth are blade-like, with...
polished pebbles occasionally found with sauropod skeletons were gastroliths. Gastroliths are stones intentionally swallowed to aid with digestion (as is...
published a study on 115 gastroliths discovered in association with a Cedarosaurus specimen. The stones were identified as gastroliths on the basis of their...
lived at the same time as dinosaurs, they did not belong to the latter. Gastroliths are frequently found associated with plesiosaurs. The first complete...
and non-fossil records, including fossilized bones, feces, trackways, gastroliths, feathers, impressions of skin, internal organs and other soft tissues...
more acidic than that of any other vertebrate and contains ridges for gastroliths, which play a role in the mechanical breakdown of food. Digestion takes...
(so called gastroliths) to aid in digestion: The rocks are washed around in the stomach, helping to grind up plant matter. Fossil gastroliths have been...
melanophores that contain eumelanin found on the specimen of Stenopterygius. Gastroliths, stomach stones that might have assisted digestion or regulated buoyancy...
stomach, perhaps a record gastrolith weight for a crocodile. Specimens shot near Mpondwe on the Semliki River had gastroliths in their stomach despite...
from the bottoms of lakes. Similar to grit eaten by chickens, these gastroliths may assist the loon's gizzard in crushing the hard parts of the loon's...
invertebrates, seizing them with their long teeth, and may have used gastroliths (stomach stones) to help digest their food. Elasmosaurus is known from...
plants, fish scales were found in association with one specimen and gastroliths were also present in the stomach region of the specimen. The large claws...
eels, small sharks and large fish. Their stomachs also often contain gastroliths. They spend only brief amounts of time at the surface to rest between...
Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins Grit, or gastrolith, swallowed abrasive substances with roles in digestion Gritstone, category...
single species, C. carmeloi, known from a partial skeleton and associated gastroliths. The Chubutinectes holotype specimen, MPEF-PV 5232, was discovered in...
stomachs. Gharials tear apart large fish and pick up and swallow stones as gastroliths, probably to aid digestion or regulate buoyancy. Some gharial stomachs...
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