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Method of Feeding |
Asterias rubens is both a predator and a scavenger.
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Types of Prey |
| Asterias rubens feeds on a wide variety of organisms,
but the most common are mollusks, aquatic annelids, small crustaceans,
dead fish, and other echinoderms. Asterias rubens will essentially eat anything it can get its arms on! |
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Photo courtesy of Dirk Schories at http://www.guiamarina.com/ |
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Methods of Ingestion |
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Asteroids eat in a very unique way. Sometimes they will eat the "normal" way, which is to say that the food will enter the mouth and be digested internally. However, Asterias rubens commonly inserts its stomach into its prey to digest it. This method is most commonly seen when the sea star is eating a mussel or small crustacean. It can fit its stomach into an opening that is less than 0.1 mm! In this situation, the tube feet suction onto the prey and help to assist in creating that small opening. |
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Photo courtesy of Rich Galiano at http://www.njscuba.net/index.html |
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Send questions or comments to richards.mic2@students.uwlax.edu