Lytechinus variegatusdoes not locate food items at a distance. Agar blocks containing 5% dry weightThalassia testudinumorGracilaria verrucosawere perceived only at 3–8 cm distance. Individuals exposed to 1% extracts ofG. verrucosachanged neither their rate nor direction of movement, suggesting a lack of ortho‐ or klinokine‐tic resposes. Individuals exposed to extracts ofT. testudinummoved less rapidly but did not exhibit search behavior. Unlike many carnivorous marine invertebrates,L. variegatusrelies more upon random encounters than upon directed movement as a search strategy. This indicates an important difference between carnivore and herbivore feeding strategies. The frequency of feeding has no effect upon the feeding rate of large (114.5 ± 21.6 g wet weight; mean ±1 standard deviation)Lytechinus variegatus.Equivalent amounts of agarose blocks containing 5% dry weightThalassia testudinumwere consumed per feeding bout whether the echinoids were fed at daily, 3‐day, or 6‐day intervals. Small (37.7 ± 16.5 g wet weight)L. variegatusconsumed less food when fed at intervals, an effect of starvation. This suggests thatL. variegatushave a constant rate of ingestion, independent of hunger or of satiation, within the constraints of their well‐being. However, rates of movement in the laboratory were higher for individuals fedad libitumthan for starved individuals. This suggests that energy expenditure for movement is reduced when food is scarce and that movement is increased to exploit the available resources when food is abundant.