What are the Five Primary Feeding Modes?
The five primary feeding modes used by organisms are fluid feeding, filter feeding, bulk feeding, deposit feeding, and phagocytosis, in rough order of commonality. It is very difficult to find a method of feeding which does not fit into one of these feeding modes, although there are many sub-categories within each. Fluid feeding, the rarest of feeding modes, consists of sucking the fluids out of another plant or animal. Like all other primary feeding modes, it is used by herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores alike. Some well-known fluid feeders include hummingbirds, aphids, spiders, ticks, leeches, vampire bats, and mosquitos. Since many filter feeders feed on blood, they are unpopular among humans and other targeted mammals. Some feed only on the fluids of insects or plants, however. Filter feeding is the feeding mode found among sponges, Moon Jellies, krill, mysids, three species of shark, and many whale species, such as the baleen whale. Of all feeding modes, this might be among the
