just a question about marine fish fry

[-cAtFiSh-]

im doing a biology assignment for school and was wondering what marine fish fry eat in the wild?
hope you can help

 

[Ed4567]

What do you mean by "fry"?

Most marine fish (as far as I know):
-start as a fertilised egg
-initially feed of the egg sack and grow to form larvae
-they then have a long larvae stage that they spend in the upper layers of the ocean, initially eating phytoplankton, larval copepods and mollusks; then progressing to a more specilised diet.
-eventually the larvae settle onto reefs (or other habitats depending on the species) and metamorphsise into juviniles.

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

ok larvae then.
tropical fish are called fry when babies so i thought marine would be the same. thanks for your help

 

[Navarre]

Newly hatched marine fish will eat egg yoke at first, they then become more or less part of the oceans plankton (depending on species) and feed upon such things as Phytoplankton ( this ranges in different types and sizes of micro plankton) Here is a link...

What is phytoplankton

As they grow they will also feed upon Zooplankton which is larger organisms (and even thier own kind)

What is zooplankton

As they grow beyond the capability to eat this food sources they then begin to specialise into their own feeding requirements such as polyp eaters, herbivores and carnivores.


Of course this is a generalisation and may fish will have very different life cycles etc. But this should help to give an idea of the cirle of life within the early stages of reef life.