Is a dugong a consumer or decomposer?

As herbivores, dugong and their manatee cousins occupy the second level of the marine food chain. Here, a dugong feeds on seagrass in the Red Sea. organism that can produce its own food and nutrients from chemicals in the atmosphere, usually through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.

1. What type of consumers are dugongs?
2. What type of animal is a dugong?
3. What is the diet of a dugong?
4. Why are dugongs important to the ecosystem?
5. Why are dugongs mammals?
6. Is a dugong a herbivore?
7. What group does a dugong belong to?
8. Are dugongs related to manatees?
9. Is a dugong a marsupial?
10. What is dugong behavior?

What type of consumers are dugongs?

Sunshine is very important in the food chain because without it there would be no producers because they get their energy from the sun. Without producers there would be no animals on earth. Dugongs are primary consumers, which are only herbivores. They feed off of seagrass, and other aquatic plants.

What type of animal is a dugong?

And unlike manatees, which use freshwater areas, the dugong is strictly a marine mammal. Commonly known as "sea cows," dugongs graze peacefully on sea grasses in shallow coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans.

What is the diet of a dugong?

Diet. Dugongs are sometimes called 'sea cows' because they graze on seagrasses. These marine plants look like grass growing on a sandy sea floor in shallow, warm water. Dugongs need to eat large amounts of seagrass.

Why are dugongs important to the ecosystem?

Wherever they survive, dugongs play an important role in maintaining coastal ecosystems. Their constant browsing of seagrass encourages regrowth - ensuring critical habitat and feeding sites for a host of other marine species, including turtles, dolphins and sawfish.

Why are dugongs mammals?

Though they resemble cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), dugongs and manatees are believed to be descendants of land mammals that make them more closely related to elephants than whales. 5. Dugongs live only in coastal waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans from east Africa to the Red Sea and Australia.

Is a dugong a herbivore?

The dugong, like all sea cows, is herbivorous. It primarily grazes on sea grasses and therefore spends most of its time in sea grass beds. Unlike the closely related manatees, the dugong never enters freshwater and is therefore the only exclusively marine mammal that is herbivorous.

What group does a dugong belong to?

>dugongs and manatees (order Sirenia); all belong to a group of primitive ungulates called uranotherians....…

Are dugongs related to manatees?

Dugongs are related to manatees and are similar in appearance and behavior— though the dugong's tail is fluked like a whale's. Both are related to the elephant, although the giant land animal is not at all similar in appearance or behavior.

Is a dugong a marsupial?

The dugong (/ˈdjuːɡɒŋ/; Dugong dugon) is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. ... Like all modern sirenians, the dugong has a fusiform body with no dorsal fin or hind limbs.

What is dugong behavior?

Behavior of the Dugong

Dugongs tend to remain solitary or in small groups, but have been seen in large numbers for breeding. They travel along shallow coasts feeding on sea grass, and can feed for up to six minutes at a time before surfacing to breathe.