The majority of the other, non-lichenized fungi in this family are saprotrophic (consuming decaying organic matter) or ectomycorrhizal (symbiotic with plant roots), although numerous species, such as Arrhenia, grow on mosses and derive nutrition from them.

While larval pleurobranchids can be planktotrophic (feeding on plankton), lecithotrophic (deriving nutrition from yolk), or direct developing, many species produce secretions from their rich glandular mantle as a chemical defense against predators.

The studies found that wildlife has a far higher tolerance to drought, thrived on varieties of grasses and leaves that cattle derived little nutrition from, and did not cause erosion by overgrazing.

They are the only known species of frog where the tadpoles derive nutrition by feeding on the skin cells of their fathers.

The concept of deriving nutrition from eating insects is not new.

P. conchatus is a saprobic species - deriving nutrition from rotting or decaying organic matter - and can be found on hardwood stumps, logs and sticks, usually crowded together in clusters.

They routinely devour melange-harvesting equipment - mistaking the mechanical rhythm for prey - but they only seem to derive actual nutrition from sand plankton and smaller sandworms.

Many species in the genera Pleurotus and Hohenbuehelia are nematophagous, that is, they derive nutrition by consuming nematodes.

The native Kutzadika'a people derived nutrition from the larvae of the alkali flies that live in the lake.

It is of particular significance if substantiated, as it would be the first known instance of a fish deriving nutrition directly from chemosynthetic bacteria.