OKAY HI ANOTHER OCEAN ANIMAL RANT POST
so im watching Jacksepticeye play Subnautica 2 and he came across the Deepwing Brooders and i saw this:
and i was like
"OH SHIT."
"THOSE LOOK LIKE FILTER FEEDERS!!!"
so i immediately start thinking about what it is i know about filter feeders (quoting the comment i made here)
baleen whales have the baleen or "whalebone" (the keratin, hair-looking things that hang from their mouths)
fish like whale sharks have filter pads, basking sharks and manta rays have gill rakers (which are typically bony or cartilaginous)
bivalvia like mussels and oysters have cilia in their gills that help trap food
(these are microscopic)
and so i think. hmm. from that image they look the closest to the gill rakers and filter pads. so they probably eat some sort of plankton or whatever the equivalent is on that alien planet.
and so i go and decide to check the wiki:
AND I WAS RIGHT!!!
THEY'RE FILTER FEEDERS, THEY EAT PLANKTON, EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS GREAT!!!
i also love the detail of the beak being used for opportunistic hunting of hard prey, i think that's really cool!
but yeah, that's it, just wanted to share that! :3