Which statement best describes sunflower sea stars' feeding behavior when offered both nutritionally rich and poor urchins?

• A. They exclusively choose nutritionally poor urchins
• B. They show no preference between rich and poor urchins
• C. They avoid purple sea urchins entirely
• D. They prefer nutritionally rich urchins but will hunt urchins

Answer: (D)

Predators tend to maximize the energy they gain from each feeding, so they’ll favor prey that provides more calories for the effort spent hunting. Sunflower sea stars do just that when presented with two types of urchins: nutritionally rich ones offer more energy, so the stars will prefer those. But they’re also opportunistic and will feed on poorer urchins if rich ones aren’t available or if taking a poorer prey is quick and still worthwhile. That combination of preference for the higher-energy option plus willingness to still hunt less-preferred prey best describes their feeding behavior in this situation.

So, they’re not limited to only rich prey, and they don’t ignore poorer prey entirely; they simply show a bias toward the richer option while remaining flexible.