A saprophage is a heterotrophic organism that, unlike predators, obtains energy from the organic matter of dead organisms or their parts

The eating of wood, whether living or dead, is known as xylophagy. The activity of animals that feed only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy, and these animals are called sapro-xylophagous.

In food webs, saprophages generally play the role of decomposers. There are three main branches of saprophages, which are divided according to the source of nutrients:

• necrophages, which consume the biomass of dead animals
• thanatophages, which consume the biomass of dead plants
• coprophages, which consume feces