filter feeder

See also: filter-feeder

English

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filter feeder

Wikipedia

Polyodon spathula, a filter feeder

filter feeder (plural filter feeders)

(biology) Any aquatic animal that obtains nourishment by filtering particles of food from the water in which it lives.
- 2015, Theo Tait, ‘Don't wear yum-yum yellow’, London Review of Books, volume 34, number 15:
  The best-protected species are the big, peaceful filter feeders, the basking shark and particularly the whale shark, with its photogenic polka dots and mysterious long-range migration patterns.

any aquatic animal that obtains nourishment by filtering particles of food from the water in which it lives