Explore the Outdoors!
Barnacles are filter feeders that live on the bottom of the sea. In the wild, barnacles form an important part of the food web since they eat a wide variety of food items and provide a nutritious meal to many other animals in the sea. Barnacles are not primarily decomposers but can function as scavengers…
Mussels are common freshwater and marine bivalves. They are filter feeders that strain large volumes of water to extract small prey such as algae, bacteria and plankton. In this way, they play an important role in water purification. Mussels are mostly herbivores, but they are known to be opportunistic feeders that will consume other food…
Limpets are small marine creatures that live on the shores of oceans and feed on algae. They are a type of sea snail that has a conical shell. They are found in all the world’s oceans. Limpets attach themselves to rocks in the intertidal zone and graze on algae. Limpets are herbivores that graze on…
The bonefish is a carnivore that feeds on smaller animals. They are found in tropical and subtropical waters around the world. Their diet consists mainly of small fish, but they will also eat worms, molluscs, shrimp and tiny crabs. Bonefish are important predators in the food web and help to keep the populations of smaller…
The opaleye fish is a small, silver-colored fish with large, bright blue eyes. It is a herbivore that feeds primarily on algae and seaweed. The opaleye fish is a primary consumer in the kelp forest ecosystem. It plays an important role in controlling the growth of algae and seaweed, but also eats smaller fish and…
Jellyfish are carnivorous marine animals that feed on planktonic organisms, small crustaceans, fish eggs, larvae, and small fish. They use their tentacles to sting and paralyze their prey before eating them. Jellyfish are found in all the world’s oceans, from the surface to the deep sea. Some species of jellyfish can grow to be over…
Fish are a type of vertebrate that live in water. They come in all shapes and sizes, and can be found in every corner of the world. Fish are either omnivores, carnivores or herbivores depending on the species, but some may also be considered scavengers. Fish are not decomposers because they eat other living organisms…
Decomposers play an equally important role in marine ecosystems as they do in land ecosystems and they are just as numerous and diverse! In the ocean, the most abundant decomposers are bacteria, marine worms, Echinoderms, Crustaceans and Mollusks. They all get their energy by breaking down dead organic matter that float around or fall to…
There are many different types of fungi that eat different things, but common to them all is that they are important decomposers, playing a vital role in the recycling of nutrients in ecosystems. Fungi have a very broad diet consisting mostly of dead plant and animal matter, simple sugars from fruits, and even radioactivity! They…
Animals that live in the ocean constitute the marine food web. These animals use three methods of feeding during their food consumption: absorbing, grabbing, and also filtering. Crabs are part of this marine food web in which they are classified as part of the crustacean order Decapoda. Scientifically, crabs are omnivores, meaning that they feed…