Like most other animals, invertebrates have specialised eating habits:
- Some species are grazers and eat phytoplankton or algae.
- Some prey on other invertebrates.
- Some feed on dead and decaying organic matter.
- A group common in flowing waters have net-like appendages to catch passing food particles.
What do invertebrates on land eat?
Many invertebrates are important detritivores, including earthworms, millipedes, slugs, woodlice, beetles, and springtails. Earthworms eat decaying plant and animal matter in the soil. By breaking down this organic material and burrowing through the soil they aerate and improve its composition.
What do water invertebrates eat?
Aquatic invertebrates feed on a variety of food types including tree leaves, algae, wood, detritus, other invertebrates, and even some vertebrates such as small fish and tadpoles. Aquatic invertebrates are an integral part of aquatic food webs, and in some cases are important in terrestrial food webs.
