bottom feeding
Eating from below
Bottom feeding originally describes fish and other aquatic creatures that eat from the sea or lake floor—catfish, carp, and crabs are bottom feeders.
The term extends to people who profit from the lowest tier of any market or situation: bottom-feeding lawyers who chase ambulances, bottom-feeding investors buying distressed properties.
The image suggests scavenging what others won't touch.
Eats dead organic material
- benthicOf the sea bottom
- catfishBarbeled freshwater bottom-feeder
- carpWhine about trivialities
- suckerfishFish that attaches to hosts
loach · scavenger · substrate · sediment · foraging · decomposer · seafloor · riverbed
Gathering discarded or dead material
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- bargain-huntingPursuing reduced prices
- opportunisticExploiting circumstances for gain
- predatoryExploiting the vulnerable
ambulance-chasing · vulture · contrarian · distressed · undervalued · turnaround · speculative · acquisition
detritivore
Eats dead organic material
suckerfish · loach · scavenger · substrate · sediment · foraging · decomposer · seafloor · riverbed
scavenging
Gathering discarded or dead material
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- bargain-huntingPursuing reduced prices
- opportunisticExploiting circumstances for gain
predatory · ambulance-chasing · vulture · contrarian · distressed · undervalued · turnaround · speculative · acquisition · lowball
bottom feedingcream skimming
Taking only the best
cherry picking · top-tier · discerning · selective · upmarket
bottom, feeding, bottoms, bottomed, bottoming, bottomless, feed, feeds, feeder