I've not tried to keep Pectinaria happy in the lab, but for spionids
and other deposit feeders I've found that mixing finely ground
tetramin flakes with sediment will suffice as food. Another
alternative is flake baby food (a mixed cereal) mixed with sediment.
Pectinaria is a head-down deposit feeder, so you don't want to leave
all the food stranded on the surface. I recommend using either type
of commmercial food sparingly. If your facilities allow, culturing
microalgae or diatoms and mixing them with sediment would probably be
best. Bob Whitlach published a paper in 1974 on food-resource
partitioning in Pectinaria (Biol. Bull 147(1):227-235 ) which might
be useful.
Good Luck,
Sara Lindsay
<SLINDSAY at MAINE.EDU>
*********************
School of Marine Sciences
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5763
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