Filter feeding
Feeding by straining tiny plankton from the water, as whale sharks, manta rays, sardines and silver carp do.
Also: filter feeder
Filter feeders swim with their mouths open or pump water through them and catch tiny food on their gill rakers or on sieve-like pads. The three largest fish, the whale shark, the basking shark and the megamouth shark, all feed this way, as do the manta rays. Many small fish, including sardines, anchovies, menhaden and the hilsa, filter plankton too. In ponds, the silver carp filters plant plankton and the catla takes animal plankton near the surface, which is one reason they are stocked together.