Suspension eater
Suspension eaters are marine, mostly sessile organisms of various taxa that feed on particles ( suspension ) floating in seawater . The origin of the organic particles from animals or plants can often no longer be clearly determined; they are mostly different carbohydrates . Suspension eaters therefore differ in their food choices from herbivorous (herbivorous) animals such as grazers, who graze on algae and living plants, and debris eaters , who feed on dead plant remains, as well as carnivorous (carnivorous) predators and scavengers. Among the suspension-eating species there are tentacle catchers, strudlers and filter feeders . The suspension eaters also differ in the way they eat their food from the deposit eaters, who do not take their food from the water, but use already deposited organic material from the soil.
A distinction is made between active and passive suspension eaters. While the latter use currents to filter food particles from the water, active suspension eaters are not dependent on these water movements. You have developed an active filter device with which you can generate a (micro) water flow yourself. Pelagic forms, e.g. B. the sea cucumbers , generate the water flow indirectly through active swimming. Active suspension eaters can also absorb suspensions in sections of water with little natural current.
In submarine caves there are therefore always merging zones from passive suspension eaters at the cave entrance (with current) to active (sessile) forms of life inside the cave, where the lack of current excludes passive forms. In general, living things with this diet can be found in nutrient-rich waters near the surface, but can also be found in the deep sea .
Suspension eater can be found z. B. with sea lilies , stone and octocorals , sea anemones , but also with more primitive forms of life such as the Ciliophora .