Due to elevated late-Spring/early-Summer snow melt, the Salish Sea is experiencing more frequent freshwater intrusions from nearby watersheds. Not only does this fresh, warmer, and more nutrient-rich water cause an overall warming of the Salish Sea (18&degC), but it also creates ideal conditions for thin phytoplankton layer formation. To investigate whether sea star larvae are able to successfully swim and feed in these increasingly common phytoplankton patches, the swimming behavior of younger (bipinnaria) and older (brachiolaria) Pisaster ochraceus larvae was examined in the presence and absence of food at 12&degC and 18&degC. Four treatments were run at each temperature: halocline without food, halocline with food patch, no halocline without food, and no halocline with food dispersed. For each treatment, 700-750 larvae were used and 2-2.5 minute videos were taken at the depth associated with the halocline. Videos were then analyzed using particle tracking software, Python, and Rstudio. Older larvae consistently swam faster and were typically more abundant at the halocline compared to younger larvae. When larvae were swimming in a halocline, they were faster when a food patch was present for both stages. Older larvae turned more frequently in a food patch compared to when food was dispersed. In thin phytoplankton layers, and especially at elevated temperatures, both larval stages are likely to swim faster, potentially conferring advantage to feeding, and older larvae are likely to increase turning frequency. Importantly, both larval stages were able to swim and feed within a food patch at 12&degC and 18&degC, implying that these larvae are able to take advantage of these resource patches. However, the extent to which these larvae cope with changing food distribution in the Salish Sea may be largely dependent on life stage, with older larvae benefitting more from these thin phytoplankton layers.