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FAQs about  Brittlestar Identification 3

Related Articles: Brittlestars, Sea Stars

Related FAQs: Brittlestar ID 1, Brittlestar ID 2, & Green Brittlestars, Brittlestars 1, Brittlestars 2, Brittlestars 3, Brittlestar Behavior, Brittlestar Compatibility, Brittlestar Selection, Brittlestar Systems, Brittlestar Feeding, Brittlestar Reproduction, Brittlestar Disease, Seastar Selection, Seastar Compatibility, Seastar Systems, Seastar Feeding, Seastar Reproduction, Seastar Disease

Brittle Star: Asteroporpa annulata - 4/1/08
Mr. Fenner,
<Hi Lee, Lynn filling in today -sorry!>
I live in North Carolina and I see this type of brittle star on almost every wreck. I can not find it in any book. Do you know the name of this brittle star?
<Yep. It’s most likely Asteroporpa annulata, in the family Gorgonocephalidae which includes basket stars, as well as some less ornately branched varieties. These Ophiuroids are usually associated with gorgonians, Oculina corals, crinoids, and...drum roll please. shipwrecks. Their range is from North Carolina to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Bermuda. They also tend to be in a bit deeper water at around 100’/30m+. Size-wise, they get up to around 15” or so, tip to tip and feed with their arms extended up into the water column to catch copepods/microplankton. Here’s another photo of this species for comparison:
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/sertc/images/photo%20gallery/Astroporpa%20annulata%2050%20dpi%20.jpg
There's not a lot of information out there on these stars, but if you have the book: Sea Stars, Sea Urchins, and Their Allies by G. Hendler, J. Miller, D. Pawson, and P. Kier, take a look at pages 100-101.>
Sincerely,
Lee Moore
<Thank you for writing in and sharing such a beautiful photo! Take care, Lynn>

Brittle Star Identification? Ophiactis spp.  – 03/20/08
Hey WWM Crew,
<Hi Jeremy, Mich here.>
I frequently use your website for all things marine related (I think I actually know more than my LFS owner).
<Heehee! Always possible!>
Anyways this brings me to my question, I started a refugium on a 55g FOWLR system and got a nice wad of Chaetomorpha and other macros, but to my surprise not only did I get a bunch of various copepods I got two new brittle stars. I have attached an image because I have been unable to identify them. The closest I can match is Grey brittle star (Ophiura lutkeni).
<Is a micro-brittle star, (Ophiactis spp.) More here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/britstaridf2.htm
It is disk is roughly 6mm and its arms are around 2 - 3 inches in diameter.
<I see, good picture.>
Thanks for any suggestions. (Check out him eating that wad of shrimp pellet, had to coax him out of hiding ;-)
<Cool! They are beneficial scavengers in your system. Enjoy this beneficial addition!>
- Jeremy
<Cheers, Mich>

Baby Starfish? What type? 02/06/2008
Hello Bob & Crew!
<<Hello, Andrew today>>
Thank you all so much for all of the wonderful help you have given me and the great info you provide.
<<Thank you for being a part of producing the information>>
This morning, when my wife turned on the lights of our 56g tank, she saw a  new addition". It appears to be some sort of baby starfish. I have attached two pics, and sorry for the clarity but this thing is tiny, about the size of the nail on my pinky finger. He was on the front glass and I was afraid he would get eaten by one of our fish or crabs, so I (carefully) let him climb right into a floating breeder container I have on standby for injured/pregnant fish.
My questions are, what exactly is it? We have 1 chocolate chip starfish and one red knobbed starfish. This one appears to have 6 legs as opposed to the 5 of our existing starfish. Can these two cross-breed? Is it possible this simply "hatched" from our live rock or live sand?
<<This is brittle star. They are actually a good addition to reef as they spend time cleaning area's which are not accessible by us, and they spend time stirring the sandbed>>
I know these may be silly questions, they sound a little far fetched to me too, but we're just not sure how or where he/she/it could have come from?
<<Its quite common for them to be hidden away in the live rock, and only occasionally sticking an arm out to catch food. Its very possible its been in your tank a while and is an off-spring by the sounds of it. If you have added any live rock or coral recently, it could easily of hitched a ride in on that>>
My next question is, what should we do? Should we leave him in the floating breeder box to allow it to grow before releasing back into the main tank? We have added a VERY small amount of OSI Spirulina flake to the box to at least give it something in there. The box has very small vents on both sides and gets some water flow through, but it seems the vents are too small for it to get through and get out (it has tried already).
<<It will be fine to release back into the tank. Set it free on some live rock and it will crawl away and setup home there. Not to worry about feeding, as this will scavenge from the tank>>
I'd appreciate any input on what we have here and how we should go about caring for it at the moment.
Thanks again for the wonderful help & info, as always, it is much appreciated. Mike P.
<<Thank you for the questions Mike. Hope this helps. A Nixon>>

Starfish???? – 1/26/08
Ok now this is the second time I've actually seen one of these guys out of the rocks. The other one, no doubt it was a star fish. This one,
well, I don't know what to think. VEEEEEEEEEERRRRYY strange looking dude..
http://www.drekster.com/myrescues/starfish.htm
Thank you
Bridget
<Is an ophiuroid... with developing madreporite... See here: http://wetwebmedia.com/britstaridf3.htm
and the linked ID folders above. BobF>

Photo to share... Ophiuroid ID f'  - 1/17/08
<Hi Bridget>
Just sharing
http://www.drekster.com/myrescues/salttank.htm
I know we've discussed the hermit crab and the baby starfish. Starting to notice more and more of the starfish, not real sure if I have more than I thought that have come in on the live rock or if they're breeding. Doubt they're breeding?
<Might very well be.>
I can think of 6 that I've spotted of various sizes, this is one of the littler ones and I have seen one, one time that was out, it had 6 legs and was about 2".
<Neat! Unfortunately, I can’t see/find it in the photo, but thank you for sharing!>
Take care
Bridget
<You too, Bridget. -Lynn>

Re: Photo to share - 1/17/08
<Hi Bridget!>
You can see the tips of two legs in this photo.
<Ah yes, I think I can just see them poking out.>
This is normal for these guys, they spend most of their time hiding in the rock with little legs sticking out catching floating particles.
<Yes, they do indeed! Many people mistake those for worms, but they're actually neat little Brittlestars (Ophiuroids)!
All of them are black and white ringed.
<That's pretty standard with these guys - black/white, gray/white, or even a pretty salmon and white!>
Bridget
<Thanks again! Take care -Lynn>

Brittle Sea Star?...Sounds like it 1/12/2008
Greetings and Happy New Year!
<And to you and yours! Mich here apologizing for the lengthy delay.>
About 8 months ago I procured a few coral specimens that were loaded with hitch hikers...
<OK.>
I noticed what I thought was a mini brittle sea star on the glass early in the morning before the light turned on about six months ago. It was about the size of a dime including legs.
<Sounds like a mini brittle star.>
I've seen it once or twice since then, a shy little thing. Tonight I saw a mass of legs poking out of my live rock. Each leg was probably 1" long. (definitely not green though! :)) It also had in its grasp some of the Mysis shrimp I was feeding my corals. I didn't think the mini stars got that large or ate Mysis; was I mistaken in my ID?
<Nope. All sounds consistent with mini brittle stars.>
Thanks,
<Welcome, Mich>
Susan
Re: Halichoeres trispilus 11/21/07 12/11/07. Peggy, FYI... Now Ophiarachna ID
Hi Bob,
<Hello Peg>
Thanks for the id on the H. leucoxanthus. I concur on this identification after even a cursory look. I have one more for you. Came in on LR and is a big boy. Probably about 10" across leg tip to leg tip.
<A beauty>
Have him in the rock tank until I identify him. He appears to be an Ophiarachna judging by the pattern on the top of his central disc and the disc shape itself.
<I concur>
Does not appear to be O. incrassata to me. It's body is yellow/brown unlike the O. incrassata which has a very distinct green body. Would you care to opine? If he's not predatory, I'll add him to a large display. If he is, he'll have to stay in the rock tank. Just looking at him he appears to be predatory to me. I've attached a couple pics for you.
Thanks again Bob.
Peggy
<No definitive ID... but the child taxa are listed here: http:// www.marinespecies.org/ophiuroidea/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=206179
Cheers, Bob Fenner>

Serpent Star Question 11/08/07
Reading tons of FAQ's and reading the RC forums I found myself confused. I understood brittle stars and serpent stars to be very different creatures.
<Um, not necessarily. And this is the problem with common names. "Serpent" and "brittle" could be used to describe different animals or they could be used to describe the same animal. Please see here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brittlestars.htm>
I also understood green brittle stars to be very dangerous inhabitants to have in a reef tank, but I had never heard anything negative about green serpent stars.
In my tank I have assorted SPS, 2 hammer corals (separate near an overflow), assorted Zoanthids, 2 blue/green Chromis, 2 pajama cardinal, 2 black Ocellaris (1.5"), 2 peppermint shrimp, and 2 skunk shrimp, and also a 5"red and 5"green serpent star) The tank is a 120G containing about 150lbs of LR, with a 25G sump, and 35G rock, Chaeto and DSB Fuge.
About 1 week ago 1 blue/green Chromis, and 1 peppermint shrimp disappeared. I had previously wondered if there was any aggression in between fish, and in order to watch I set up a mirror and watched from the next room for several hours while surfing the web.
<cool idea>
There was no aggression I could see. Now after reading some posts from people about "dangerous green serpent stars" I wonder whether my green serpent star is the offender (there was no body found), or if someone was just mistaken and meant to right green brittle star.
<Maybe they weren't "mistaken" per se but simply had a different idea of how to use the name(s).>
To sum this all up, is the green serpent star dangerous, or does "green death" only apply to green brittle stars?
<I think that the names "green serpent" and "green brittle" are often used interchangeably. I've seen Ophioarachna incrassata called by either name. Again, this is the tragedy of common names. So, my friend, I'm sorry to say it sounds like you may likely have the dreaded "Green Death" star (yet another common name--though one a bit more specific in this case).>
Thank you so much in advance, you folks were a wonderful resources helping me get started.
Joshua
<Thank you and de nada,
Sara M.>

Brittle Star?   9/9/07
<Hi Bellinda, Mich here.>
We purchased a large piece of coral today and this little guy came out after we had placed it. What is it? There was also another one that was green with brown stripes that never came out enough to get a picture.
<These are micro brittle stars. Beneficial scavengers. Hopefully they brought their family with them! You can read more here:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brittlestaridfaqs.htm
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/brittlestars.htm >
Is this something to be concerned about?
<Nope.>
Thanks for all your help,
<Welcome! Mich>
Bellinda


 


 

 

 

 

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