Seafood menu

In "Lobsters in a Pinch" (p. 12), you learned that lobsters prey on crabs and other small marine animals, but what do the prey eat? Complete this activity to learn more about the food web of the Long Island Sound.

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PART A: Time to Research

1. Study the food web of the Long Island Sound found at this Web site: www.longislandsoundstudy.net/soundhealth/foodweb.pdf

2. Study the following terms:

Producers: Plants and simple microscopic organisms that obtain energy by using sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to create their food.

Consumers: Animals and other microscopic organisms that get nutrients from other animals and/or detritus (materials from dead or decaying organisms). There are three main types of consumers:

herbivores: obtain energy by eating plants

carnivores: obtain energy by eating animals

omnivores: obtain energy by eating both plants and animals

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PART B: Analysis

DIRECTIONS: Use the information from Part A to help you answer the following questions.

1. Which type is more common in the Long Island Sound: producers or consumers?

2. What type of consumers are copepods?

3. Which type of consumer is most common in the Long Island Sound food web?

4. Suppose a pollutant is released into Long Island Sound, killing all the forage and larval fish in the waters. Which organisms would be directly affected by their deaths'? Which organisms would be indirectly affected by the die-off of forage and larval fish? Explain why.

5. Adult lobsters, although part of the Long Island Sound, are not featured on the food-web diagram. They eat crabs (also not featured on the diagram) and small fish. Their main predators are humans. Based on this information, where would you draw adult lobsters on the diagram? On the back of this worksheet, draw a revised food web of the Long Island Sound that features adult lobsters.

1. There are more consumers than producers in the Long Island Sound.

2. Copepods are omnivores.

3. Carnivores are the most common type of consumer in the Long Island Sound.

4. Should all the forage and larval fish die in the Long Island Sound, larger fish species will be directly affected. Because of a lack of prey. larger fish species would dwindle. Humans, birds, and seals would be indirectly affected, That's because these organisms prey on the larger fish species, whose populations would decline due to the die-off of forage and larval fish.

5. In the space between "Humans" and "Forage and Larval Fish," students should draw a circle containing a drawing and a label for "Adult Lobster" A thick line should link lobsters to humans Another thick line should link lobsters to the fish Give bonus points to the students who link lobsters to detritus, using a thin line