The marine ecosystem is made up of a complicated series interconnected energy producers —like plants and photoplankton—and consumers—from plant-eaters to meat-eaters, both great and small.
What is the food chain of fish?
Here's how it works: Food chains begin with tiny floating plants called phytoplankton and small animals called zooplankton. The next step in the chain is a small fish, like a bay anchovy or a menhaden , which eats the small organisms. The next step is a larger fish like a spotted sea trout eats the smaller fish.
What are the consumers of the marine ecosystem?
Primary consumers in the ocean include zooplankton, small fish, and crustaceans . The secondary consumers are fish, coral, penguins, whales, and other species that eat the zooplankton. The top predators in the ocean, sharks, killer whales, and leopard seals, eat both primary and secondary consumers.
What are the food chains?
Food chain, in ecology, the sequence of transfers of matter and energy in the form of food from organism to organism . Food chains intertwine locally into a food web because most organisms consume more than one type of animal or plant.
What animal is top of the food chain in the ocean?
Killer Whales
Great white sharks, to be exact. But the true ruler of the sea is the killer whale. Killer whales are apex predators, which means they have no natural predators. They hunt in packs, much like wolves, which are also at the top of their food chain.
Which organisms are top consumers in a marine food chain?
Primary consumers are in turn eaten by fish, small sharks, corals, and baleen whales . Top ocean predators include large sharks, billfish, dolphins, toothed whales, and large seals. Humans consume aquatic life from every section of this food web.
Is a marine worm a consumer?
Overall, the main decomposer organisms in marine ecosystems are bacteria. Other important decomposers are fungi, marine worms, echinoderms, crustaceans and mollusks. ... Marine worms like the Christmas tree worm have feathery appendages which they spread out and use to catch organic matter floating in the water.
What is the role of plant in food chain?
Plants form the base of Great Lakes food chains. They're called producers, because they make their own food by converting sunlight through photosynthesis . They also act as food, providing energy for other organisms.
What is the difference between a food chain and a food web?
A food chain follows one path of energy and materials between species . A food web is more complex and is a whole system of connected food chains. In a food web, organisms are placed into different trophic levels. ... Producers are autotrophs, meaning they produce their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
What fish are low on the food chain?
Low on the food chain seafood like sardines, anchovies, clams, mussels and oysters . These have “shorter life spans, reproduce more readily and as a result are more resilient to fishing pressure.”
What is food chain with diagram?
A food chain is a linear diagram showing how energy moves through an ecosystem . It shows only one pathway out of the many possibilities in a specific ecosystem. BiologyFood Chain.
What is a food chain example?
Food Chain. A food chain shows you how one organism eats another and transfers its energy . For example, a zebra eats grass, and the zebra is eaten by the lion.
How does a food chain start?
A food chain always starts with a producer . This is an organism that makes its own food. Most food chains start with a green plant, because plants can make their food by photosynthesis. A living thing that eats other plants and animals is called a consumer.
What is the biggest sea creature to ever live?
The blue whale is believed to be the largest animal to have ever lived.
Who is top of the food chain?
- An apex predator, also known as an alpha predator or top predator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators.
- Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the highest trophic levels.
What animal is highest in the food chain?
That puts us right in the middle of the chain, with polar bears and orca whales occupying the highest position. For the first time, ecologists have calculated exactly where humans rank on the food chain and how it's been changing over the past 50 years.
