Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:10:07.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The feeding behaviour of starfish on Essex oyster beds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

D. A. Hancock
D. A. Hancock
Affiliation:
Fisheries Laboratory, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Laboratory and field observations were made on the food and feeding of the starfish in relation to its role as a predator on oyster beds in the rivers of Essex, particularly in the river Crouch.

Asterias rubens was found most likely to be associated with large numbers of Crepidula, the most serious competitor of the oyster.

Laboratory experiments showed that although Asterias occasionally ate spat and adult oysters, the greater part of its food was made up of organisms which are competitors of the oyster. The smaller sizes of Asterias ate large numbers of barnacles, with occasional spat of oysters and Crepidula. The larger occasionally ate oysters and oyster spat, but almost always exhibited a preference for mussels and, in the absence of these, for Crepidula, and sometimes even for Urosalpinx.

Some observations were made on the method and rate of feeding and distribution of Asterias and Solaster papposus, and certain aspects of the feeding behaviour of the stone crab, Hyas araneus.

It was concluded that Asterias is not such a serious enemy of the oyster as was previously supposed, and that under certain conditions, its presence may be beneficial to oyster culture.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , June 1955 , pp. 313 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1955

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blegvad, H., 1914. Food and conditions of nourishment among the communities of invertebrate animals found on or in the sea-bottom in Danish waters. Rep. Danish Biol. Sta., No. 22, pp. 41–78.Google Scholar
Bull, H. O., 1934. Aquarium observations on the rate of growth and enemies of the Common Star-Fish, Asterias rubens L. Rep. Dove Mar. Lab., Ser. 3, No. 2, pp. 60–3.Google Scholar
Cahn, A. R., 1950. Oyster culture in Japan. Fish. Leafl., Wash., No. 383, pp. 1–80.Google Scholar
Collard, A. P., 1902. The Oyster and Dredgers of Whitstable, 91 pp. London: Joseph Collard.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuénot, L., 1887. Contribution a l'etude anatomique des Asterides. Arch. Zool. exp. gen., T. 2, No. 5.Google Scholar
Forbes, E., 1841. A History of British Starfishes, 267 pp. London: John van Voorst.Google Scholar
Galtsoff, P. S. & Loosanoff, V. L., 1939. Natural history and method of controlling the starfish (Asterias forbesi, Desor). Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., Vol. 49, pp. 75–132.Google Scholar
Hancock, D. A., 1954. The destruction of oyster spat by Urosalpinx cinerea (Say) on Essex oyster beds. J. Cons. int. Explor. Mer, Vol. 20, pp. 186–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, O. D., 1925. The food of the bottom fauna of the Plymouth fishing grounds. J. Mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 13, pp. 560–98.Google Scholar
Irving, L., 1924. Ciliary currents in starfish. J. exp. Zool., Vol. 41, pp. 115–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight-Jones, E. W., 1952. Reproduction of oysters in the Rivers Crouch and Roach. Fish. Invest., Lond., Ser. 2., Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 1–48.Google Scholar
Korringa, P., 1951. The shell of Ostrea edulis as a habitat. Arch, neerl. Zool., Vol. 10, pp. 32–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, L., 1951. L'ostreiculture et la mytiliculture en Zelande (Pays-Bas). Rev. Trav. off. PSches mark., T. 16, pp. 111–28.Google Scholar
Laver, H., 1916. The Colchester Oyster Fishery, 92 pp. Colchester: Colne Fishery Board.Google Scholar
Lee, C. F., 1951. Technological studies of the starfish. Fish. Leafl., Wash., No. 391, pp. 1–41.Google Scholar
Loosanoff, V. L. & Engle, J. B., 1942. Use of lime in controlling starfish. Res. Rep. U.S. Fish. Serv., No. 2, pp. 1–29.Google Scholar
Mead, A. D., 1901. The natural history of the starfish. Bull. U.S. Fish. Comm., Vol. 19, pp. 203–24.Google Scholar
Mistakidis, M. N., 1951. Quantitative studies of the bottom fauna of Essex Oyster Grounds. Fish. Invest., Lond., Ser. 2., Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 1–48.Google Scholar
Mortensen, Th., 1927. Handbook of the Echinoderms of the British Isles.. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Needler, A. W. H., 1941. Oyster farming in Eastern Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Bd Can. No. 60, pp. 1–83.Google Scholar
Sawano, Eisiro & Mitsugi, Kinji, 1932. Toxic action of the stomach extracts of the starfishes on the heart of the oyster. Sci. Rep. Tdhoku Univ., Ser. 4, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 79–88.Google Scholar
Schiemenz, P., 1895. How do starfish open oysters? J. Mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 4, pp. 266–85.Google Scholar
Van Der Heyde, H. C, 1922. On the physiology of digestion, respiration and excretion in echinoderms. Academic Thesis, Amsterdam, 120 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vevers, H. G., 1949. The biology of Asterias rubens, L.: growth and reproduction. J. Mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 28, pp. 165–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar