What Eats Zooplankton?

Understanding what eats zooplankton reveals the organism's crucial place in the food chain of the ocean and life in general. Without them, the fundamental building blocks of the underwater food chain would not exist. Zooplankton are the animal form of plankton, and the only creature lower than them on the food chain in the waters is phytoplankton, the plant version of plankton.

Lots of sea creatures enjoy eating zooplankton; in fact, any creature that is bigger than the zooplankton will eat them. However, there are specific species of sea beings that tend towards the zooplankton ranging from tiny sea crustaceans to giant majestic whales.

Shelled Sea Creatures

A number of small, shelled creatures that live in the ocean eat zooplankton. They include the blue mussel, quahog, surf clam, scallop, periwinkle, sea worm, barnacle, and the oyster. Interestingly, all of these ocean dwellers only eat zooplankton, phytoplankton, and detritus (dead decaying plant matter), which shows how basic zooplankton is to the environment of the sea.

Fish

Many fish that eat zooplankton are referred to as plankton-pickers because of the way in which they consume their prey. As they are swimming through the oceans, zooplankton floats by, which is nearly invisible to the human eye. The fish, however, extend their mouths and slurp the zooplankton up one by one, thereby earning their title.

Species that indulge in zooplankton include eel, swordfish, the northern anchovy, and chub mackerel. Basking sharks also enjoy eating zooplankton. Fry fish generally feed on three types of zooplankton: rotifers, copepods, and cladocerans. Smaller fry fish tend toward the rotifers, while larger varieties generally stray away from the tiny rotifers because they do not provide enough nutrients for them.

Types of fry fish include sunshine bass, white bass, black crappie, white crappie, fathead minnow, goldfish, rosy-red minnow, golden shiner, common carp, sauger, yellow perch, large mouth bass, walleye, grass carp, bighead carp, striped bass, silver carp, palmetto bass, paddlefish, spotted sucker, white sucker, shovelnose sturgeon, channel catfish, and muskellunge. 

Whales

Different species of whales consider zooplankton a vital component of their diet as well. Baleen whales in particular tend toward zooplankton as their diet is mostly composed of the lowest members of the food chain. Right whales also eat zooplankton, and they strain zooplankton from the water to obtain it. Right whales also eat a lot of krill, which is a type of zooplankton.

Other types of whales that eat krill include blue whales, fin whales, humpback whales, Bryde's whales, sei whales, and minke whales that reside in the southern hemisphere.

Effect on Humans

Although zooplankton is an essential component of the food chain of the ocean, they are also necessary to human life. Zooplankton is clearly eaten by a wide variety of species that live under the sea. Anchovies, bass, mussels, scallops, oysters, and many more of species which consume zooplankton are also consumed by human beings. Therefore, these tiny zooplankton provide nutrients and sustain life for everyone all the way up the food chain.