The Aquatic food chain Shows how organisms living at sea get food and energy; Also exemplifies how this energy is passed from one living organism to another.
The food chains They start with plants and end up with large animals. Each string contains the Producers , Food-producing agencies, and consumers, who eat food produced by farmers or eat other animals.
Primary consumers or Autotrophs Are the organisms that produce their own food; In this category enter plants like algae or phytoplankton.
Secondaries or Heterotrophs They are animals that eat Primary consumers , Such as oysters, shrimp, clams or scallops.
Tertiary (heterotrophic) consumers are the animals that eat secondary organisms such as dolphins or sharks.
Predators are animals that are at the top of the food chain and do not have predators; Sharks and dolphins also fall into this category.
Decomposers are organisms that break down dead plants and animal materials and debris to release them again as energy and nutrients in the ecosystem. Crabs, fungi, worms and bacteria fall into this category.
You may also like to know The 27 most incredible marine invertebrate animals .
Levels of the aquatic food chain
First level: photoautótrofos
The basis of the aquatic food chain is invisible. This is because it is made up of thousands of billions of organisms from a single cell. These organisms, called phytoplankton, saturate the surface of the oceans around the world.
These small plants and some bacteria solar energy ; Through the photosynthesis Convert nutrients and carbon dioxide into organic compounds, just as plants do on land. In the coasts, the algae carry out the same process.
Together, these plants play an important role. These vegetables are the primary producers of organic carbon that all animals in the ocean food chain need to live. They also produce more than half of the oxygen breathed by humans on Earth.
Second level: herbivores
The second level of the food chain is composed of animals that feed on the abundant plant life of the ocean.
On the water surface of the oceans, microscopic animals such as zooplankton, jellyfish and larvae of some fish such as barracudas, and mollusks float in the currents of the sea.
Larger herbivores include green turtles, manatees, parrotfish and fish surgeons. Despite their differences in size, herbivores share a voracious appetite for oceanic vegetation.
Additionally, many of them share the same fate: becoming food for carnivorous animals that are high up in the aquatic food chain.
Third level: carnivores
The zooplankton of the second level of the chain supports a large and diverse group of small carnivores, such as sardines and herring.
This level of the food chain also includes larger animals such as octopuses - which feed on crabs and lobsters - and many fish - that feed on small invertebrates living near the coast.
Although these animals are very effective hunters, they usually tend to be predators prey by the simple rule that governs the ocean world: larger fish eat smaller fish. Some carnivores that make up the third level include squid, sardines and snapper.
Fourth level: high level predators
Large predators at the top of the food chain are a diverse group that includes finned fish such as sharks, tunas and dolphins; Animals with feathers, such as pelicans and penguins; And animals with fins such as seals and walruses.
These predators of the cusp tend to be large, fast and very efficient when hunting their prey. On the other hand, they do not live a long time and reproduce slowly.
Despite this, predators at the top of the pyramid tend to be a common prey for humans. When predatory species are hunted indiscriminately, their numbers drop rapidly.
It is very difficult for that number to grow again and the lack of these species can cause chaos in the entire food chain. That is why it is so important that humans do not indiscriminately hunt them.
Decomposers
The decomposers exist only in one Trophic level . They are usually bacteria that break down dead organisms.
This process releases nutrients that help producers and consumers feed through the absorption of organic material in the water column.
This process is very important because it indicates that even high-level consumers contribute to the food chain being completed. The decomposers break down their waste or dead tissue.
Organisms that compose it
Marine consumers
Any organism that does not produce its own food is called a consumer. This means that they must resort to other organisms or dissolved organic materials to obtain food.
In aquatic habitats, both small and large animals may be phytoplankton users. This ranges from small animals like shrimp to manatees.
Animals that only eat primary animals are called primary consumers. For example, shrimp are mainly consumers. The animals that eat these primary consumers are the secondary consumers, such as marine stars and whales.
Also, tertiary consumers feed on the secondary and predatory at the top of the food chain that feed on tertiary consumers.
Consumers can feed on only plants (herbivores) or can feed on smaller animals (carnivores) or both, which would make them omnivores.
Marine herbivores
A herbivore is an animal that only eats plants. In the case of marine habitat, animals that only eat phytoplankton are considered herbivores.
Some examples are scallops, turtles and oysters. Manatees and dugong are the only herbivorous mammals.
References
- Marine Food Chain. Ocean Life. Retrieved from ocean.nationalgeographic.com.
- Marine Food Webs. Retrieved from sciencelearn.org.nz.
- Marine food web and food chain. (2006) Retrieved from kids.britannica.com.
- Marine Food Chains and Biodiversity. Retrieved from national geographic.org.
- Marine Food Chain Lessons for Kids. Retrieved from study.com.