Ecology
Herring-like fish are the most important fish group on the planet. They are also the most populous fish. They are the dominant converter of zooplankton into fish, consuming copepods, arrow worms chaetognatha, pelagic amphipods hyperiidae, mysids and krill in the pelagic zone. Conversely, they are a central prey item or forage fish for higher trophic levels. The reasons for this success is still enigmatic; one speculation attributes their dominance to the huge, extremely fast cruising schools they inhabit.
Orca, cod, dolphins, porpoises, sharks, Rockfish, seabird, Whale, squid, Sea Lion, Seal, tuna, Salmon, and fishermen are among the predators of these fishes.
Herring are pelagic–prey includes copepods, amphipods, larvalsnails, diatoms by larvae below 20 millimetres (0.79 in), peridinians, molluscan larvae, fish eggs, euphausids, mysids, small fishes, menhadenlarvae, pteropods, annelids, tintinnids by larvae below 45 millimetres (1.8 in), Haplosphaera, Calanus, Pseudocalanus, Acartia, Hyperia, Centropagidae, Temora, Meganyctiphanes norvegica.
Read more about this topic: Atlantic Herring
Famous quotes containing the word ecology:
“... the fundamental principles of ecology govern our lives wherever we live, and ... we must wake up to this fact or be lost.”
—Karin Sheldon (b. c. 1945)