HOW SEA STARS OPEN BIVALVES
Open Access
- 1 August 1956
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The Biological Bulletin
- Vol. 111 (1) , 114-122
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1539188
Abstract
Pulling force exerted by tube feet of Asterias forbesi upon shell of living Mytilus edulis was measured directly by substitut-ing steel coil spring for cut adductor muscle. Manometer con-nected to spring revealed application of forces of 3000 g and over. Sea star can insert its stomach into shell within 3 min. after pull begins and via an opening as narrow as 0.1 mm. No evidence of toxic secretion by sea star could be obtained in over 1000 tests with aqueous solutions of Asterias injected into adductor muscle or into mantle cavity of Mytilus.This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- On the Methods Used by the Starfish Pisaster Ochraceus in Opening Three Types of Bivalve MolluscsEcology, 1955
- The Old Starfish-Clam QuestionScience, 1942
- Adhesion of the tube feet in starfishesJournal of Experimental Zoology, 1926