The Marine Life Information Network

Information on the biology of species and the ecology of habitats found around the coasts and seas of the British Isles

Characteristic feeding methods

Feeding type sub-type Definition
Non-feeding Non-feeding (e.g. a short-lived adult that only involved in mating, or lecithotrophic life stages).
Autotroph Self-feeding. An organism capable of synthesizing complex organic substances from simple inorganic substrates (Lincoln et al., 1998).
Deposit feeder
Any organism which feeds on fragmented particulate organic matter from the substratum (from Lincoln, et al., 1998)
Surface An organism that feeds on fragmented particulate organic matter on the surface of the substratum (e.g. Corophium volutator) (adapted from Lincoln et al., 1998).
Sub-surface An organism that feeds on fragmented particulate organic matter within the substratum (e.g. Echinocardium cordatum) (adapted from Lincoln et al., 1998).
Suspension feeder
Any organism which feeds on particulate organic matter, including plankton, suspended in the water column (from Lincoln et al., 1998).
Passive Catching food on a filter held into flowing water (e.g. hydroids, sea fans, sea pens), or collecting the 'rain' of detritus on sticky apparatus other than a filter (e.g. tentacles of Cucumaria frondosa, proboscis of echinurans) (MarLIN; Hiscock et al., 1999). 
Active Catching food on a filter from water by actively sweeping (e.g. Porcellana platychelyes) or pumping (e.g. sea squirts, many bivalve molluscs) or creating a localised current (e.g. copepods, bryozoa etc) (MarLIN; Hiscock et al., 1999).
Grazer
Feeding on herbage, algae or phytoplankton by consuming the whole plant or the surface growth (Lincoln et al., 1998).
Grazer (fonds/blades) Animals which rasp benthic algae (or sessile animals, such as bryozoan crusts) from the surface of macroalgal fronds and blades (MarLIN; Hiscock et al., 1999).
Grazer (grains/particles) Animals which rasp benthic algae (or sessile animals, such as bryozoan crusts) from inorganic particles e.g. sand grains (MarLIN; Hiscock et al., 1999).
Grazer (surface/substratum) Animals which rasp benthic algae (or sessile animals, such as bryozoan crusts) from the substratum (MarLIN; Hiscock et al., 1999).
Browser Feeding on parts of plants (e.g. shoots, leaves, twigs) or parts of other organsims (e.g. siphon nipping by fish). (Lincoln et al., 1998).
Parasitic
An organism that is intimately associated with, and metabolically dependant on another living organism, for completion of its life cycle, and which is detrimental to the host to a lesser or greater extent.
Ectoparasitic Parasitic on the outer surface of its host (adapted from Lincoln et al., 1998).
Endoparasitic Parasitic witihn the tissues or organs of its host.
Kleptoparasitic In which the female of one species steals the food researves or prey of a female of another species, to feed her own progeny (Lincoln et al. 1998). 
Scavenger An organism that feeds on carron and organic refuse (e.g. crabs, whelks) (Lincoln et al., 1998). 
Predator Predatory behaviour in which one animal species captures a member of another species (Lincoln et al. 1998) OR mobile animals that attack kill and consume individual prey items, usually one at a time .

References

  • Barnes, R.S.K., Calow, P. & Olive, P.J.W., 1993. The invertebrates: a new synthesis. Oxford: Blackwell Science Ltd.
  • Lincoln, R., Boxshall, G. & Clark, P., 1998. A dictionary of ecology, evolution and systematics (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University of Press.