planktivores

Alcids can be divided into two general categories based on diet: planktivores and piscivores.

Alcids in marine ecosystems

For example, increasing the number of cyprinids that consume plankton (e.g., emerald shiner – Notropis atherinoides, lake chub – Couesius plumbeus) in northern waters will possibly divert energy from existing planktivores (e.g., ciscoes) and reduce their population abundances.

Approaches to projecting climate change effects on arctic fish populations

Martill et al. (1998) rejected both the scavenging and mud-probing hypotheses, and regarded azhdarchids as ‘aerial piscivores or planktivores’ (p. 57).

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Nocturnal planktivores have lost some visual acuity so they are forced to feed on larger prey than their diurnal counterparts.

Coral reef fish feeding behavior in the Caribbean

In addition, many planktivores have closely spaced, long gill rakers that prevents ingested food from escaping through the gills.

Coral reef fish feeding behavior in the Caribbean

Other planktivores feed on plankton that falls to the reef or sandy bottom.

Coral reef fish feeding behavior in the Caribbean

Jellyfish have thus replaced fishes as the dominant planktivores in several areas, and there is some concern that these community shifts may not be easily reversible, since the jellyfish also eat the eggs of their fish competitors.

Marine biodiversity and food security

Smaller planktivores feeding in the water column could be subject to predation because they are removed from the safety of the reef.

Coral reef fish feeding behavior in the Caribbean

The gyre systems of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, and the nutrient enrichment of estuaries in the southern half of the LME contribute to the maintenance on the shelf of relatively high levels of phytoplankton and zooplankton prey fields for planktivores including fish larvae, menhaden, herring, mackerel, sand lance, butterfish, and marine birds and mammals.

Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf large marine ecosystem

The gyre systems of the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank, and the nutrient enrichment of estuaries in the southern half of the LME contribute to the maintenance on the shelf of relatively high levels of phytoplankton and zooplankton prey fields for planktivores including fish larvae, menhaden, herring, mackerel, sand lance, butterfish, and marine birds and mammals.

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