The seston represents a highly dilute food source to potential consumers. C
onsequently, 3 general properties may be expected of sessile filter feeders
: (1) high retention efficiency; (2) possession of a low-energy pump system
in active filter feeders; and (3) consumption of seston fractions in propo
rtion to availability (i.e. opportunistic feeding). Whereas the first 2 pro
perties have been well documented, until recently little evidence had been
adduced for the third. We assessed whether a pattern across particular stud
ies exists that could provide evidence of opportunistic feeding. Recent stu
dies of the seasonal variation of seston composition and of natural feeding
of species representing 3 contrasting feeding modes were reviewed. For the
first time, it was possible to demonstrate in the field that sessile filte
r feeders consume a broad spectrum of seston fractions in proportion to the
ir availability. We conclude that such opportunistic feeding, within phylog
enetically determined broad limits, is a general property of sessile filter
feeders, appropriate for exploiting the ubiquitous but dilute and dynamic
seston.