Bottom feeder

A bottom feeder is an aquatic animal that feeds on or near the bottom of a body of water.^[1] Biologists often use the terms benthos—particularly for invertebrates such as shellfish, crabs, crayfish, sea anemones, starfish, snails, bristleworms and sea cucumbers—and benthivore or benthivorous, for fish and invertebrates that feed on material from the bottom.^[2] However the term benthos includes all aquatic life that lives on or near the bottom, which means it also includes non-animals, such as plants and algae.^[3] Biologists also use specific terms that refer to bottom feeding fish, such as demersal fish, groundfish, benthic fish and benthopelagic fish.^[4] Examples of bottom feeding fish species groups are flatfish (halibut, flounder, plaice, sole), eels, cod, haddock, bass, grouper, carp, bream (snapper) and some species of catfish, sharks.^[4]

^ "Bottom Feeders". David Suzuki Foundation. Archived from the original on 2016-10-28. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
^ Bergman, Eva; Greenberg, Larry A. (July 1994). "Competition between a Planktivore, a Benthivore, and a Species with Ontogenetic Diet Shifts". Ecology. 75 (5): 1233–1245. doi:10.2307/1937449.
^ Baustian, Melissa M.; Hansen, Gretchen J. A.; de Kluijver, Anna; et al. (2015). Linking the Bottom to the Top in Aquatic Ecosystems: Mechanisms and Stressors of Benthic-Pelagic Coupling (PDF). Eco-DAS X Symposium Proceedings. Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography. pp. 25–47.
^ ^a ^b Bergstad, O. A. (2009). "Fish: Demersal Fish (Life Histories, Behavior, Adaptations)". In Steele, John H. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences (Second ed.). Academic Press. pp. 458–466. doi:10.1016/b978-012374473-9.00673-1. ISBN 9780123744739. S2CID 81990196. Retrieved 2020-07-13.