uhuru
New member
Most corals are carnivorous, so they eat zooplankton, as well as bacterioplankton. However, phytoplankton is an integral part of the food web, since zooplankton and bacteria will consume phytoplankton, its still good to dose it.
I'm not an algae expert by any means, but in the vertebrate world, herbivory requires a different type of digestive system to handle the cellulose. As simple as corals are, they probably don't possess the machinery to digest phytoplankton even if they wanted to. Cows, for example, rely on bacteria and protozoa in their gut to break down their food for them. Corals might be able to eat partially degraded phytoplankton that is being eaten by bacteria as well. Just an assumption on my part.
I'm not an algae expert by any means, but in the vertebrate world, herbivory requires a different type of digestive system to handle the cellulose. As simple as corals are, they probably don't possess the machinery to digest phytoplankton even if they wanted to. Cows, for example, rely on bacteria and protozoa in their gut to break down their food for them. Corals might be able to eat partially degraded phytoplankton that is being eaten by bacteria as well. Just an assumption on my part.