Scaled fish like sardines, herrings, and anchovies use suspension feeding to filter tiny food particles, including phytoplankton and zooplankton, from the water. They have specialized structures such as gill rakers that act as sieves, capturing food particles as water passes through their mouths.
2. Filter feeding:
Filter-feeding scaled fish like whale sharks and manta rays have enlarged mouths and highly modified gill rakers. They swim with their mouths wide open, filtering large volumes of water to trap small organisms like krill, small fish, and plankton.
3. Ram suspension feeding:
Some scaled fish, including mackerel and tuna, employ ram suspension feeding. They swim rapidly with their mouths open, allowing water to stream through and trapping plankton, small fish, and other prey against their filtering structures.
4. Active foraging:
Many scaled fish are active predators and use various hunting strategies to capture their prey. For example, predatory fish like bass, trout, and salmon rely on their senses to locate and pursue individual prey items, including smaller fish, invertebrates, and amphibians.
5. Scavenging:
Scaled fish such as vultures and some catfish species are scavengers that feed on dead or dying animals. They locate and consume carrion, playing an important role in recycling nutrients in aquatic ecosystems.
6. Parasitism:
A small number of scaled fish display parasitic feeding behavior. Examples include lampreys and hagfish, which attach themselves to other fish or marine animals and feed on their body fluids or tissues.
The method of obtaining food primarily depends on the fish's species, specialization, and adaptation to their respective habitats and preferred diets.