Diet and food preference of intertidal Astrostole scabra (Asteroidea: Forcipulata)

Dietary composition in Astrostole scabra was ascertained by regular sampling at four geographically separated locations on the Kaikoura coast between January 1976 and January 1977. A. scabra is a food generalist and scavenger with a diet composed mainly of molluscs and crustaceans belonging to more than 60 genera. The diet was dominated numerically by chitons and trochid molluscs. Several site‐specific differences in dietary composition were apparent. Only Ischnochiton maorianus was a numerically important prey species at all study sites. Dietary diversity and evenness were more or less constant and comparable both seasonally and geographically. The proportion of intertidal seastars feeding fluctuated during the study from a peak of 42% in January to 23.7% in June 1976. Prey species were consumed in proportions independent of their abundance. In the laboratory, A. scabra, free of ingestive conditioning, discriminated between different prey species and preferentially consumed I. maorianus. There were strong prey preferences at the specific, but not at the familial, level.