In marine waters, most animal protein production from plant material is carried out by copepods. Copepods and a related organism, krill, are the world's largest stock of living animal protein. Larger carnivores feed voraciously on them. Herring, for example, may consume thousands of the tiny creatures in a single day. Most of the Bay's fish are part of the direct food web, but their feeding habits are complex.
Some experts contend that menhaden are the dominant fish in the Bay's intricate food web.
The extremely fine gill rakers of menhaden act as a filtering net. Adult menhaden swim with their mouths open, consuming any plankton in their paths. 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.