“Standing on tiptoe”: A novel foraging technique in the starfish Patiria pectinifera

Abstract

We describe a novel foraging technique of the blue bat star Patiria pectinifera that we call “standing-on-tiptoe” behavior. We examined whether the starfish uses this technique to catch shore crab Gaetice depressus in laboratory experiments. Patiria pectinifera in an aquarium with live crabs showed standing-on-tiptoe behavior at a significantly higher frequency (20 out of 47 cases) than those with dead crabs (one out of 23 cases) or no crabs (one out of 23 cases). Nine out of the twenty starfish showing this behavior succeeded in catching and consuming the shore crabs. This behavior could be a tactic for foraging for agile prey, such as shore crabs.