In turn, menhaden are a major food of striped bass , bluefish and osprey . They also support a large commercial fishery that utilizes the fish for animal feed and for products containing fish meal and oil. Like menhaden, anchovies and all fish larvae are primarily zooplankton feeders. Adult striped bass, bluefish and weakfish feed mainly on other fish. Striped bass and other predators also may feed upon young of their own species.
Many fish are omnivorous, eating both plants and animals.
Omnivores, like eels and croakers, feed on planktonic copepods, amphipods, crabs, shrimp, small bivalves and small forage fish. Small forage fish, like killifish and silversides, often feed upon the epifauna and epiphytes along wetlands and in shallow water communities.