Food finding and stimuli to feeding in the sea star marthasterias glacialis

Abstract The feeding reaction of the sea star Marthasterias glacialis was studied. Its normal feeding response was subdivided for experimental purposes into 6 well defined phases. With the help of controlled starvation all the animals collected in nature were brought to a physiological state in which they always responded to stimulation with food, with meat extract solutions, with milk or with pure chemical substances. When studying responses to amino acids, L-cystein was found to be the most effective in eliciting responses identical with the first 3 phases of the normal feeding reaction.