The hypothesis of antarctic larval starvation examined for the asteroid <i>Odontaster validus</i>1

Abstract

A persistent hypothesis to explain the prevalence of nonfeeding larvae in benthic invertebrates at high latitudes has been the assumed lack of available food. This hypothesis is based in turn on the assumption that the only significant source of larval food is phytoplankton. Calculation of the carbon requirement (from respiration data) of larvae of the antarctic asteroid Odontaster validus suggests that they could not survive on natural levels of phytoplankton. To test whether starvation occurs, we cultured O. validus larvae in situ. After 5 weeks, survivorship was ( N = three cultures of 30 larvae each). These data suggest that Chlorophyll a concentration is not a good indicator of food availability, and other sources of nutrition may be sufficiently abundant that starvation is not a major factor affecting the ecology of antarctic echinoderm larvae.