Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 19 September 1986:
Vol. 233. no. 4770, pp. 1311 - 1314
DOI: 10.1126/science.233.4770.1311
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Bacterivory: A Novel Feeding Mode for Asteroid Larvae

RICHARD B. RIVKIN 1, ISIDRO BOSCH 2, JOHN S. PEARSE 2, and EVELYN J. LESSARD 1

1 Horn Point Laboratories, Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies, University of Maryland, Cambridge, MD 21613.
2 Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064.

Planktotrophic larvae that occur beneath the annual sea ice in the Antarctic assimilate organic solutes and preferentially ingest bacteria, whereas they actively exclude phytoplankton. In regions where phytoplankton biomass is temporally limited by light or nutrient concentrations, the growth and development of planktotrophic larvae may not be directly coupled to phytoplankton production.

Submitted on April 7, 1986
Accepted on June 17, 1986

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)