Feeding on or consuming algae, typically used to describe organisms like fish, snails, or other aquatic animals that eat algae.
From Greek algos (pain) OR alga (seaweed) + phagous (eating/devouring). The seaweed etymology is more likely, though the Greek roots are ambiguous; this term developed in biological taxonomy during the 19th century.
Here's a fun language ambiguity: 'algophagous' probably means 'eating algae,' but the Greek roots could suggest 'pain-eating'—taxonomists weren't always careful about distinguishing alga (seaweed) from algos (pain) when creating Latin names.
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