Foraging strategy of the asteroid Leptasterias polaris: Role of prey odors, current and feeding status

We performed laboratory experiments to investigate the perception and localization of prey by the subtidal asteroid Leptasterias polaris. Motivation to eat greatly influences its responsiveness to current and waterborne odors from prey. Fed asteroids behave erratically, whereas asteroids starved for 2 mo exhibit predictable behaviors revealing the species' foraging strategy. In the absence of prey, starved asteroids search by moving cross-current which increases the probability of encountering odor plumes. In conditions of varying current velocities (differences of 0.5 to 1 cm S' ) , movement is cross-stream towards the stronger current and 2to 3-fold faster in strong (ca l7 cm S' ) than in weak (ca 0.7 cm S-') current. We hypothesize that strong currents are preferred because they increase the spatial definition of odor plumes which facilitates localizing prey. When starved L. polaris perceive prey, they move upstream towards the odor plume. Because this should reduce the predator's conspicuousness, it may increase its chances of captunng the prey.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Echinoderms through Time

• Publication date

  2020-12-17

• Fields of study

  Biology, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3354/MEPS106093
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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