Fish that feed on fish. What and how to eat fish in the sea?

Our planet is inhabited by amazing fauna, each of which has its own unique qualities. We know a lot about them: for example, koalas do not drink water at all, cats are perfectly seen in the dark, and dolphins possess almost human intelligence. And what do we know about fish, in addition to what is eaten, and there are also inedible, and even poisonous?

In this article we will tell about amazing inhabitants of underwater measurement, who have fins: about their life in depths, habits and about what the fish eat depending on the environment in which they live.

You will discover the uncharted world of the underwater kingdom, in which everything is not so peaceful and peaceful as it seems at first glance. For example, fish live in fishponds, feeding on fish and small animals. Also there are fish-birds and animals that are not averse to eating freshly caught delicacy.

To each his own menu

By the nature of the behavior and preferences in food, the fish are subdivided mainly into carnivorous and peaceful ones. Carnivores are fish that eat fish and only occasionally eat other foods. They pose a serious threat to fish-vegetarians, especially if those are small in size.

Peaceful, in turn, are herbivorous, benthophagous and planktophages. Basically, these are fish that feed on algae.

The herbivores use exclusively phytoplankton, in other words - floating seaweed. Benthophagous are fish that feed on algae, which grow at depth (they are called phytobenthos) and organic particles. Planktophages also prefer zooplankton and do not disdain the unicellular organisms inhabiting the river.

In addition, there are omnivorous eurifagi - fish that feed on fish, algae and small invertebrates. Their menu is most diverse.

River settlers

Looking at the river, we do not even imagine how many all kinds of animals live under the water surface. For each locality there are characteristic "sets" of river fishes. For example, in rivers on the territory of Russia there are such representatives as bersh, cupid, dace, ruff, sturgeon, char, whitefish, grayling.

Also in the Russian waters you can find smelt, pike, carp, bream, asp. In addition, there are so many carp lovers, minnows, silver carp, roach, redneck, line, catfish, burbot, river perch. And this is not a complete list of all kinds.

Carnivorous river predators

What do fish eat in the river? Each of them has its own diet. The menu of river inhabitants depends on many factors: the type of the bottom (sand or stones), algae, and even the season.

Let's start, perhaps, with classic predators, which include fish that feed on fish. This bersh, sturgeon, char, pike, catfish, burbot, river perch. Consider these:

• Bersh belongs to the Okunev family and looks very much like a pike perch. It is a predatory schooling fish, which consumes roach and reddish fry. Do not disdain small minnows and ruffs.
• Sturgeon belongs to the same family. It is an aggressive predator who can spend the main menu and "eat" a frog. In the river, a large number of sturgeon occurs only when they spawn. These brood fish predators feed not only in fresh waters, but also in saline.
• Golets is a very large representative of the Salmonidae family, which is considered a predator because it very much likes caviar of valuable fish, sweeps it in huge quantities, thereby reducing their population on a catastrophic scale. Also loach hunts young salmon.
• Pike is the only representative of the family of the same name. This is an extremely aggressive, gluttonous, predatory person. In the diet of her nutrition includes such fish as crucian carp and roach. In addition, the pike "suffers" cannibalism: these predator fish eat smaller species of their kind. A variety in the menu of pike can make and small mammals (for example, mice), accidentally caught in the water. Small poultry birds and their young can also become pike.
• Catfish from the Somov family are similar in their food preferences to pike. He eats small fish, and can also attack waterfowl chicks. Large representatives prey on large birds, and are also able to drag a dog or small calf into the water. There are cases when the catfish attacked pigeons, who incautiously pecked the grain at the water's edge. Such "greed" for food is due to the fact that it feeds only in warmer seasons, and in winter it starves.
• Burbot belongs to the Trench Squad. These predator fish prey for prey at night, and feed not only on fish, including juveniles like themselves, but also decaying animals, as well as frogs.
• River perch is both a hunter and a victim. He eats small fish, he himself is food for pike and pike perch.

Underwater vegetarians

Peace inhabitants of the river depths are harmless fish, feeding on algae, phytoplankton, detritus. Phytoplankton - is the smallest plant organisms, which in a large number of people inhabit reservoirs and move through the current.

Often phytoplankton can not be seen with the naked eye, so people do not attach importance to it. Many of us do not even know about these microscopic organisms, and they are the most important vegetarian component of what the fish eat in the river. Especially it concerns such species as cupid, carp and lin. We learn more about them:

• Cupid is a "native" from the Karpov family. It feeds exclusively on plant foods: mud, various algae, reeds. Also, he can use flooded during the flood of the land plants.
• The silver cares belong to the same family as the cupid, and prefers microscopic algae and detritus. Mouth carp - this is a kind of "filter apparatus", through which this fish filters the green water, being a kind of river medics.
• Lin is a very inactive fish, preferring to live near the bottom or in algal thickets. More than 60% of its diet is algae.

Omnivorous euryphages

Interestingly, almost all fins, whether they are peaceful vegans or carnivorous predators, are omnivorous during the period of active growth. What do fish eat in the river, which are classified as euryphages? The answer is simple: almost everything that comes to them in the mouth. This is a small river plankton, crayfish, mollusks, protozoa, and even insects! This especially applies to young animals. Caloric nutrition is an important element in which the growing fish needs.

Feeding insects "young people" does not necessarily become predators, and eating algae fry does not always grow vegetable-eating. However, there are a number of fish that retain "omnivorous" throughout their lives:

• Yelets is a "native" from the Karpov family. Eats invertebrates, as well as vegetation and insects.
• Ersh belongs to the Okunev family. He is incredibly hungry and eats incessantly. The main ration of the ruff is invertebrates, insects and their larvae, small mollusks, fish eggs and some species of algae.
• Grayling is a representative of the family of the same name. Like the ruff, it feeds on zooplankton, insects, and caviar of spawning fish.
• Smelt is an omnivorous fish that does not disdain any food like caviar and fry of other fish, seaweed, benthic organisms.
• Carp is a large eurifagus of the Karp family. He has no stomach, so his hunger never becomes satisfied. This fish consumes mollusks, insect larvae, zooplankton, which lives in the bottom sediment.
• Bream differs from most fish with a small mouth opening. Because of this anatomical feature, he is unable to absorb large food, so he is content with detritus, small insects and worms.
• Zherekh belongs to the Karp family. The young of this fish feed on insects, zooplankton, small crustaceans. The matured individuals turn to a "predatory" diet. At the same time asp has no teeth and mines a small fish, stunning it with a blow of the tail. He does not disdain large insects, such as butterflies, beetles, dragonflies.
• Carp is another representative of euryfang fish. Their food is crustaceans, insect larvae, mollusks, mud, algae, bottom plankton, duckweed.
• A minnow is a typical sample of benthophagi. It feeds on zooplankton, small insects and mollusks, as well as caviar of various fish.
• Krasnopyorka is a fish of the Karp family. It is a kind of "litmus test" for determining the quality of water - the red ridge lives only in clean water. Its menu includes young shoots of various aquatic plants, insects and their larvae, as well as caviar of mollusks, which this fish finds on the leaves of water lilies.
• Roach is a unpretentious fish of the Karp family that feeds on small crustaceans and leeches, larvae of dragonflies, bloodworms, algae and their seeds.

Food preferences of lake residents

Do not forget that in addition to rivers there are also lakes, which are also home to all kinds of underwater inhabitants: snails, frogs, crayfish. In such reservoirs live lake fish, eating small crustaceans: sterlet, carp, white cupid, tench, perch, rainbow trout, crucian carp, roach, whitefish and ide.

The fish living in the lake has a slightly different diet than the river. This is due to a special microclimate of the reservoir. River fish-predators like the whitefish their food preferences differ from lake ones in that the diet of the majority of them is 60% composed of phytoplankton and algae.

The largest and gluttonous lake fish, feeding on small crustaceans, phytoplankton and zooplankton, is carp. Like its river "fellow", it never gorges, as it is a fish without a stomach. Small crustaceans also eat bream in large numbers.

Inhabitants of the salt sea

The sea bottom is full of all sorts of fauna, especially fish. Like the river, they are peaceful and predatory. What do fish eat in the sea? Due to the fact that it is more densely populated by different organisms, the menu of sea cold-blooded people is more diverse than their river "relatives".

The most common marine "cousins" of river fins, leading a relatively peaceful way of life - pelengas, herring, mullet, mullet and ram. Why "relatively"? Because these fish, feeding on algae, can sometimes eat their own kind.

The menu of aggressive fish, in contrast to the peaceful inhabitants of the deep sea, is more diverse. What do marine predator fish eat? It is interesting to know that a small predator with fins may well constitute a ration of a larger carnivorous fish. The most common of the commercial ones are mackerel, pink salmon, catfish, flounder, halibut, horse mackerel, salmon, tuna, cod and pike perch.

Diet for peaceful sea fish

1. Pelengas belongs to the Kefalov family. This is a valuable commercial fish of medium size, which feeds on dentrites, mollusks and algae, therefore it is considered a meliorator of the sea.
2. Herring is the most "eaten" of all. She is loved by birds, sea animals and we are people. It feeds on small crustaceans and zooplankton. Greater representatives of herring can engage in cannibalism, eating juveniles their own kind.
3. Mullet is considered one of the most delicious fish. Its food (zooplankton and dentrite) it digs out of the bottom sediments.
4. Fish with a ridiculous name, the mullet feeds on small benthic organisms, using its antennae to grope for food.
5. Taran is one of the favorite prey of amateur anglers. She leads a benthonic life and uses small mollusks and zooplankton for food.

Food of sea predator fish

1. Mackerel is one of the most loved fish used by man. It is a predator-euryphagus, which eats both plankton, and smaller ones like it.
2. Pink salmon is one of the most important commercial representatives of the Salmonidae family. In some countries this fish is called "Russian salmon". Her diet consists of mollusks and smaller fish, crustaceans and fry.
3. The catfish prefers cold water, so it lives at a sufficiently deep depth. Due to the well-developed jaws, its menu is very diverse. Catfishes eat crabs, shellfish, sea urchins, lobsters, sea stars and sometimes jellyfish. Do not disdain wolffishes and fish, which are much larger in size.
4. Flounder is unique due to its unusual appearance. This flat person leads a bottom life and hunts crustaceans and small fish, attacking them from his sandy shelter.
5. Halibut belongs to the family Kambalov and feeds on the same as flounder. Preference is given to capelin and pollock.
6. Stavrida is a fast-moving hunter. Its prey is such a fish as hamsa, mullet and mullet. He does not refuse from his own young. In turn, horse mackerel is a favorite food for dolphins.
7. Salmon is the fish most loved by people. It is widely used in cooking in all the cuisines of the world. In the sea salmon feed on herring, sprat, smelt, herring and crustaceans.
8. Tuna belongs to the Skumbriev family and is the most valuable commercial fish. It feeds on cephalopods and some species of small fish, as well as squid and shrimp.
9. Cod and pike perch in their food preferences are no different from the above "brethren".

Menu of aquatic settlers

Aquarists have a fashionable tendency to create an imitation of the sea depths. For this, the aquarium is decorated with corals, anemones and exotic fish from the seas and oceans. To find the right "company" an ignorant person is unlikely to be able to, because many pseudo-sea dwellers behind glass can destroy each other in accordance with food characteristics. Aggressive predator fish will always hunt for peaceful phytophages - this should be taken into account when choosing multi-colored "tenants" with fins. Particular attention should be paid to what fish eat in the sea. The most popular carnivorous aquarium "overseas guests" are discus, astronotus, piranhas, fishes, apistograms, yellow.

Of the peaceful inhabitants of the sea in the aquarium can host fish-clowns, lalius, angelfish, neons, minors, tetra.

If you decide to have your own underwater world in your house, you should know what the aquarium tenants eat at home - in the sea or the ocean. Predators like yellow dinners snails and small crustaceans, and also not averse to hunt for small fish. Other cichlids, as well as astronotuses and piranhas, do not lag behind them.

But algae is what the clownfish feeds on. And also most other peaceful aquarium inhabitants.

River fish hunters

A bird eating a fish poses a great danger to them, regardless of their habitat. Winged enemies of river representatives are black-headed gulls, gray herons, cranes, osprey and white-tailed eagles. These voracious birds can destroy a huge amount of fish. We learn more about them:

• Blackhead (river / lake gull) is an omnivorous, indiscriminate bird of small size. Thanks to the membranes on the paws, the seagulls swim perfectly, and catching fish from the surface of the reservoir is not difficult for them.
• Gray herons and cranes are rather large birds that prefer only animal food. Fish is up to 80% of their diet, the remaining 20% are frogs and rodents.
• Osprey is the river eagles. They are listed in the Red Book. An osprey is a bird that feeds fish and only it! They hunt with clawed paws, seizing prey from the water. The scopa is the most terrible enemy of river inhabitants, regardless of species.
• The white-tailed eagle, like the osprey, is listed in the Red Book. It is a large predatory bird feeding on fish and smaller birds. Also on the menu of the eagle-tailed tail are hares, ground squirrels, marmots and other rodents. They do not disdain and carrion.

Winged sea hunters

Fish living in the sea, also are not insured from that become a food of birds. Their life is actively attacked by feathered lovers, gourmets, like cormorants, albatrosses, petrels, seagulls. In the northern seas and oceans, penguins prey on fish.

1. Cormorant is a rather large bird that eats not only capelin, sardine and herring, but also mollusks. The eyes of these winged hunters have a transparent blinking membrane, which, when immersed under water, serves as their kind of underwater goggles. Thanks to this anatomical feature, cormorants perfectly see their prey under the water column.
2. The Albatross is a sea longevity. During its 30-year life, one individual eats a huge amount of fish, as well as crustaceans, squid and molluscs. Albatrosses can dive to 15 meters in depth, and also have an ultra-precise sense of smell.
3. Petrel is externally similar to pigeon, but, unlike the latter, it has much larger size and webbed feet. The life cycle of these birds is 20-26 years. They have the same food as albatross and cormorants. Also, petrels often accompany ships, eating up food debris.
4. Gulls are the only birds that do not have natural enemies. Their main diet is primarily fish, as well as mollusks, insects, small birds and their eggs, crayfish, carrion and waste. These cunning people were hooked to get shellfish even from the strongest shells, throwing them from a height.
5. Penguins are gourmet birds. They will never eat foul or stale fish, as do gulls or petrels. Their diet should be exceptionally freshly caught, it consists of plankton, fish, krill, squid and cephalopod mollusks. Food penguins mined, diving to a depth of 20-70 meters.

Disaster from the shore

In addition to birds and fishermen, the enemies of the fish are animals. Feeding fish four-legged fauna representatives will never miss the opportunity to eat your favorite dish. Especially many "lovers of delicacies" live on the river. Which animals eat fish? This muskrat, otter, curator, muskrat. She is also very fond of mink and eats in large quantities.