You searched for: “detritivorous
detritivorous (adjective), more detritivorous, most detritivorous
1. A reference to creatures that eat dead organic tissues and organisms in an ecosystem: Desert buzzards are detritivorous birds, feeding on dead animals; such as, road kill or an animal accidentally killed by a passing vehicle.
2. Descriptive of feeding on fragmented particulate (particles) of organic matter: A certain species of fish were the most detritivorous in the small river, feeding off algae and other organic matter that accumulated on the bottom of the stream.
3. Pertaining to organisms which consume particulate substances as a means of existence important in certain ecosystems; such as, in aquatic environments: The water in the lake is kept clean by the detritivorous cleaning behavior of some of the fish that exist there.
This entry is located in the following units: trit- (page 2) vor-, vora-, -vore, -vorous, -vores, -vora, -vory (page 3)