A bird of prey almost picked up fish food? (5)

I believe the answer is:

algae

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'fish food?' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

I don't understand the remainder of the clue.

(Other definitions for algae that I've seen before include "Aquatic growths" , "Seaweeds etc" , "Seaweeds generally" , "Marine growths" , "'Simple plants, such as seaweed (5)'" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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