Table 2 Ecologic categories of tiering, motility and feeding types
Ecologic category | Examples |
|---|---|
Tiering | |
(1) Pelagic | Ammonoids, belemnoids, fish, nautilids |
(2) Erect | Crinoids, corals, sponges |
(3) Surficial | Echinoids, brachiopods, gastropods, Exogyra |
(4) Semi-infaunal | “Normal” bivalves, rudist bivalves, scaphopods |
(5) Shallow infaunal | Many clams |
(6) Deep infaunal | The clam Panope |
Motility level | |
(1) Freely, fast | Ammonoids, belemnoids, fish, some arthropods |
(2) Freely, slow | Gastropods, echinoids, nautilids, scaphopods |
(3) Facultative, unattached | Many clams, polychaetes: Sedentaria |
(4) Facultative, attached | Corals, mussels |
(5) Non-motile, unattached | Reclining brachiopods, boring bivalves |
(6) Non-motile, attached | Rudist bivalves, pedunculated brachiopods, sponges |
Feeding mechanism | |
(1) Suspension | Boring bivalves, brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, rudists, scaphopods, sponges |
(2) Surface deposit | Tellinid bivalves, polychaetes |
(3) Mining | Nuculid bivalves |
(4) Grazing | Echinoids, gastropods |
(5) Predatory | Ammonoids, belemnoids, nautilids, fish |
(6) Other | |