Puget Sound Foodweb eelgrass insects
pacific oysters jellyfish market squid
cormorants spiny dogfish
forage fish gadids & greenlings
salmon steelhead harbor seals
bald eagles harbor porpoises humans
Bigg’s transient Southern Resident killer whales killer whales Puget Sound Foodweb
Zooplankton is made up of Phytoplankton, like land plants, Insects are invertebrates. They Eelgrass is not a seaweed; it is many species of animals (mostly have chlorophyll & need sunlight are part of the base of the food a blooming underwater grass small crustaceans like copepods, to live & grow. Phytoplankton are web. They feed on plants & which spreads by rhizomes or amphipods, crab, shrimp, & krill). highly productive in Puget Sound bacteria & are eaten by many roots. Diatoms & bacteria gather Some are larval (baby) forms of because of its unique patterns species of fishes & birds in on the leaves, providing food for marine animals & others spend of tides, rivers, & winds. They rivers & estuarine environments. many grazing invertebrates & their whole lives as free-floating bloom in spring, summer, & fall, Aquatic or terrestrial insects birds. Its roots stabilize sediment organisms. Many feed on each & provide food for a wide range that are transported into Puget & its leaves shelter small fishes other & become the base for an of organisms including whales, Sound waters provide an like juvenile salmon. Eelgrass is entire food web, from the smallest shrimp, snails, zooplankton & important high-energy food also important spawning habitat; fish to the largest whale. Most fish, jellyfish. source for juvenile salmon & herring in Puget Sound lay their birds & jellyfish eat zooplankton. other pelagic fishes. eggs on its leaves.
Market Squid is a carnivore Crab species are important Jellyfish are not fish; they are invertebrates. They thrive in warm, Pacific Oysters filter plankton that primarily eats zooplankton prey for many fishes (including from the water, straining up (krill, copepods) & small fish salmon) & birds. Larval (baby) nutrient-rich waters & can tolerate low-oxygen environments. Jellyfish to 60 gallons of water a day. like herring. Squid are also crab eat phytoplankton & They depend on their very cannibalistic; they will eat other zooplankton. Adult crabs live congregate into “blooms,” or “smacks,” of many individuals & thick shells to ward off attacks squid. Squid use tentacles to on the seafloor & eat small by crabs or birds who want to catch their prey & a parrot-like crustaceans, clams, & fish. Spiny can consume large amounts of phytoplankton & zooplankton. Few eat them. Humans also love beak to tear food into pieces. dogfish prey on adult crabs, to eat oysters; oyster farming Birds, harbor seals, gadids, & & crabs also sometimes prey animals eat these soft, gelatinous creatures, so they are sometimes is an important industry in the humans like to eat squid. on other crabs. Humans love Pacific Northwest. to eat many crabs especially considered a “dead-end” in the Dungeness crab. food web.
Spiny dogfish are small (< 1.5 m), Cormorants can dive below the Gadids (hake, cod, pollock) & green- Forage fish are small, silvery long-lived (up to 75 years) sharks surface to catch food or look for lings (lingcod) are recreationally fishes that are eaten by almost that are common here. They eat fish, insects, or crustaceans in important. They eat a variety of everything. They are generally a diverse diet including herring, shallow water. Their hooked bill prey, including zooplankton, forage high-lipid prey, & are often some gadids, ratfish, flatfish, octopuses, is a tool for hanging onto prey. fishes, squid, rockfish, sculpins, of the most ecologically important crabs, & salmon. During World They mostly feed on fishes, & some salmon. Adults can also species in marine ecosystems. War II, millions of spiny dogfish like surfperch, forage fishes & cannibalize juveniles. Lingcod are Puget Sound forage fishes include were harvested for their vitamin A juvenile steelhead. They have one of the top predators in Puget Pacific herring, northern anchovy, rich livers. They are popular few predators but may die Sound: they can get very large (> 1 Pacific sand lance, & surf smelt. recreational & commercial food accidentally by getting tangled in m) & live for up to 20 years. Harbor They eat zooplankton, including fish for humans & are also eaten fishing gear. seals, birds, & spiny dogfish prey copepods, crab larvae, & krill. by harbor seals, birds, & lingcod. upon these fish. They are important prey for salmon, birds, & harbor seals.
Harbor Seals are the most Steelhead spend a year/two Salmon are ecologically, eco- Bald Eagles are large, carnivo- common pinnipeds in Puget in rivers, eating insects, before nomically, & culturally significant rous birds that capture prey with Sound. They live here year-round & they travel out to the ocean & eat in Puget Sound. Many populations their large talons. Their distinc- often stay near a favorite haul- zooplankton, small invertebrates, have declined & are struggling to tive white heads are iconic. They out site (a rocky area, dock or other & other fish. They move offshore survive. Salmon feed on terrestrial build the largest nests of any bird surface near the water). Harbor seals once they hit saltwater & travel & aquatic insects, amphipods, & in the world. They eat fish, other primarily feed on fish, like gadids, great distances across the ocean; other crustaceans when they are birds (like cormorants & ducks), forage fish, salmon & squid. They the longest of any salmon. They young. As they grow older, they & land mammals. They feed are eaten by Biggs transient killer feed near the water’s surface, consume marine zooplankton (like heavily on salmon carcasses after whales, may also die as a result so are at high risk of consuming larval crab & krill) & forage fish. the salmon have spawned. Bald of human activities like fishing or floating marine plastics. Many die Salmon are an important food eagles have no predators but they hunting. on their way to the ocean; they are source for killer whales, harbor may die accidentally from human eaten by predators (harbor seals). seals, & humans. activities like hunting or fishing.
Harbor Porpoises are common Humans love to eat seafood. Southern Resident Killer Bigg’s (Transient) Killer Whales in some areas of the Salish Some of their favorites are Whales are toothed whales that are toothed whales that reside in Sea & their abundance may shellfish (clams, mussels, crab, reside off the coast of the NW the North Pacific Ocean. They are be increasing in Puget Sound. oysters) & fin fish (herring, area of the US & Canada. The fierce predators who sometimes They are the smallest cetacean salmon, cod), but they also Southern Resident killer whale hunt in packs. They are seen in recorded in Puget Sound waters eat seaweed, sea salt, & fish population is so small that they Salish Sea waters in the fall & at < 2 m & < 100 kg. Observers eggs. Humans do not have any are listed as endangered. One have increasingly been observed rarely see more than their small predators that live in the ocean. important factor inhibiting their in Puget Sound. They don’t have dorsal fins, as they do not often recovery is a lack of their favorite predators & primarily eat marine leap from the water. Harbor prey; the endangered Chinook mammals, but also eat birds, porpoises primarily eat fishes & salmon. Sometimes they feed on squid, sharks, & other whales. squids. They are eaten by Biggs steelhead & chum salmon. transient killer whales.