The feeding response of Hydra viridis: effects of prey density on capture rates ( Artemia).

When fed to repletion H. viridis resumed feeding after 4.8 hr and ingested significantly fewer Artemia during the 2nd feeding. At low prey densities, increasing the exposure time from 15-60 minutes increased the number of Artemia ingested. At higher densities exposure time did not affect the number of Artemia ingested. There was a strong correlation between the number of Artemia captured and the number ingested. Increased prey capture did not alter the duration of the feeding response but did reduce the time interval between ingestions. Feeding success under conditions of low prey density is thus limited by availability of prey. At high prey density the feeding process is itself saturated and prey availability has limited effects on ingestion.-from Authors