What Animals In The Ocean Eat Seaweed

Updated September thirty, 2021

By Adrianne Jerrett

Reviewed past: Sylvie Tremblay, M.Sc. Molecular Biology and Genetics

Many sea animals consume algae around the globe, from modest crustaceans, including bristle worms (Polychaeta) and snails (Gastropoda), to large mammals such as manatees (​Trichechus​ spp.). Seaweed is a valuable nutrient source for sea animals that eat algae - full of minerals, vitamins, fiber and protein with essential amino acids.

Types of Seaweed

In the scientific globe, seaweed is referred to equally benthic macroalgae, which means information technology is a blazon of algae visible to the naked eye that tends to secure itself to the seabed. Macroalgae is further classified into iii groups: green algae (Chlorophyta), brown algae (Phaeophyceae) and blood-red algae (Rhodophyta). These types of algae come in all dissimilar shapes and sizes, from less than an inch to 164 feet long. Globally there are approximately 6,200 species of light-green algae and 1,800 species each of brown and carmine algae.

Sea Animals That Eat Algae

The bounding main is full of bounding main animals that eat algae, the major photosynthetic main producer. The types of animals that eat algae in marine environments are main and secondary consumers. In a basic seaweed food chain, crustaceans eat the seaweed, fish eat the crustaceans and larger fish eat smaller fish, finally leading up to the peak-level carnivores such as sharks (Selachimorpha), dolphins (Artiodactyla) and birds similar albatross (Diomedeidae). When washed ashore, diverse types of bacteria and fungi colonize seaweed, feeding on it and breaking information technology down.

Living Versus Decomposing Seaweed

To protect themselves from being eaten alive, many seaweeds have chemic defenses. Some organisms, like the isopod ​Ligia pallasii​ and amphipod ​Traskorchestia traskiana​ prefer eating aged, decomposing algae rather than fresh algae. Once bacterial colonies starting time to grow on algae, they make it easier to assimilate. The added leaner may also increment the nutrient content of this seaweed meal.

Sea Turtles

Equally juveniles, green sea turtles (​Chelonia mydas​) are mostly carnivorous; however, as they get older, they become one of the larger sea animals that eat algae. Their finely serrated jaws are peculiarly adapted to a vegetarian diet. Green body of water turtles use their jaws to rip away chunks of seaweeds and grasses and scrape algae off rocks.

Manatees

Manatees are marine mammals that, every bit adults, counterbalance between 32 and 108 pounds. Every twenty-four hours they eat the equivalent of four% to 9% of their torso weight in wet vegetation. A manatee's diet consists of diverse algae, marine grasses, leaves and aquatic plants like water hyacinth (​Pontederia crassipes​).

Grazing Birds

Eating seaweed isn't just bars to aquatic organisms; some terrestrial birds enjoy a seaweed meal too. The brant (​Branta bernicla​) is a small goose that lives along the coasts of Alaska and Chill Canada. Brants expect until low tide and and so forage for seagrass and seaweeds, ripping them from the footing.

Kelp Forests

Many types of brown algae are commonly called kelp. Kelp forests are an of import ecosystem in many temperate oceans as they provide a source of food, shelter and convenance grounds for many sea animals. A textbook instance of the chain of negative furnishings within an imbalanced ecosystem is the relationship between kelp forests, sea urchins (Echinoidea), sea stars (Asteroidea) and in some areas, ocean otters (​Enhydra lutis​).

Sea urchins are the primary herbivore in kelp forests, eating their holdfasts. Sea stars and bounding main otters predate on sea urchins, keeping their population numbers under control. When the body of water star or body of water otter population levels drop due to exploitation, illness or hunting, bounding main urchin populations smash, creating "urchin barrens" every bit the urchins eat entire forests of kelp and prevent more than from regrowing. This has drastic effects on the rest of the animals that rely on kelp forests to survive and leads to an overall decline in biodiversity.

Source: https://sciencing.com/organisms-eat-seaweed-8248358.html

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