filter-feeding

Sieving food passively

Filter-feeding is a method of eating in which an animal strains food particles from water.

Baleen whales, clams, and flamingos are filter-feeders, capturing plankton, algae, or small organisms by passing large volumes of water through specialized structures.

The term applies as both noun and adjective: filter-feeding organisms, a diet based on filter-feeding.

mechanism

baleen

Whale's filtering bristles

  • ciliaHairlike cellular projections
  • siphonLiquid transfer tube
  • setaeStiff hairlike structures

suspension · straining · water flow · mesh · pumping · tentacles · current · lamellae · trapping · screening

organisms

whale

Huge sea mammal

  • clamSand-dwelling hinged shellfish
  • oysterPearl-bearing edible mollusk
  • musselEdible two-shelled mollusk

sponge · krill · barnacle · flamingo · manta ray · whale shark · anchovy · bivalve · tunicate · bryozoan

ecology

plankton

Drifting marine microlife

nutrients · water clarity · sediment · biofilter · food web · organic matter · microbial · biomass · water quality · benthic

anatomy

velum

Muscular mouth membrane

Categories
Opposites
feeding strategy

filter-feedinggrazing

Feeding on pasture

scavenging · parasitism · herbivory · predation · browsing

predatory behavior

filter-feedingstalking

Stealthy, persistent pursuit

pouncing · striking · hunting · capturing · trapping

prey capture method

filter-feedingbiting

Harshly critical or cold

striking · engulfing · constriction · trapping

Family

filter, feeding, feed, filters, filtered, filtering, filtration, filtrate, feeds

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