Q. Which of the following are detritivores?

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

Answer: 1, 3 and 5 Only

Detritivores are the organism that feeds on detritus. A detritivore is a heterotrophic organism, which obtains its nutrition by feeding on detritus.
Detritus is the organic matter made up of dead plant and animal material.
Detritivores may also obtain nutrition by coprophagy, which is a feeding strategy involving the consumption of faeces.
Detritivores are often invertebrate insects such as mites, beetles, butterflies and flies; mollusks such as slugs and snails; or soil-dwelling earthworms, millipedes and woodlice.
Examples of detritivores in marine environments are crustaceans such as crabs and lobsters, echinoderms such as sea stars or sea cucumbers.
Many of these marine detritivores occupy a similar niche to terrestrial soil-dwellers, living on or within the seabed known as the benthos. These organisms are often called “bottom-feeders”.
Alternatively in aquatic ecosystems, stationary polychaete worms, barnacles and some corals derive their energy through filter-feeding on floating organic detritus called ”marine snow”.
Detritivores and decomposers contribute to the breakdown of all of the dead and decaying material in any ecosystem.
In this way, they play an important role in the cycling of nutrients and are an essential part of most biogeochemical cycles, such as the carbon cycle, nitrogen cycle and phosphorus cycle.

Sea horses are tiny fish that are named for the shape of their head, which looks like the head of a tiny horse. They are classified as fish, in the genus Hippocampus.
There are 46 species of seahorses reported worldwide. The coastal ecosystems of India house 9 out of 12 species found in the Indo-Pacific.
They are found in shallow coastal waters in latitudes from about 52° N to 45°S.
A seahorse gains energy by eating other live organisms, meaning it is a carnivore.
- A seahorse is not a decomposer because decomposers gain energy from breaking down dead organisms.
Seahorse populations in India are distributed across diverse ecosystems such as seagrass, mangroves, macroalgal beds, and coral reefs.
Distribution in India:
- These 9 species are distributed along the coasts of eight States and five Union Territories from Gujarat to Odisha, apart from Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Slow Swimmers:
- When swimming they maintain a vertical position and propel themselves forward using a soft-rayed dorsal fin.
- They migrate by rafting, clinging to floating substrata such as macroalgae or plastic debris for dispersal by ocean currents.
Unique Reproductive Habits:
- The male gives birth to child as the female uses an ovipositor (egg duct) to place her eggs into a brood pouch located at the base of the male’s tail where the eggs are later fertilized.

Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella-shaped bells and trailing tentacles, although a few are anchored to the seabed by stalks rather than being mobile. The bell can pulsate to provide propulsion for highly efficient locomotion.
Jellyfish are carnivores and excellent predators.
- They sting with tentacles to subdue small aquatic fish and eat the eggs and invertebrates that stick to their tentacles.