Baby snail? Larval crab? Parasite? Barnacle? Starfish?

[Jeff-Ft-Lauderdale]

Hello All,

Anyone know what this is? It looks like a starfish, but I am guessing it's not. Mostly I want to eliminate it as a possible parasite. It is suctioned onto my front glass. If it is moving, I can't tell. It is very small...maybe 1-2mm. This picture is as good as I can get of it.

I am new to Marine Aquariums. So want to make sure I am not missing something obviously dangerous.

 

[Ryde]

Asterina Starfish.

 

[ying yang]

+1 on asterina star fish.
I never had any but read alot if mixed views on them,
Some say they will eat corals.
Some say will only eat the algae in and on the corals.
Some say will eat a dying coral only and can sense when a coral is suffering and close to death.
Some say had them for years and no trouble.
All say they reproduce very quickly by dropping limbs to form another.
Apparently thees different versions/ colours if these.

Harlequin shrimp eat them ( but they only eat starfish and nothing else so need buy starfish to feed them after they ate all asterina's)
I know you o ly one asterina by sounds if it but just giving you much info I can ^_^

 

[Ryde]

+1 on asterina star fish.
I never had any but read alot if mixed views on them,
Some say they will eat corals.
Some say will only eat the algae in and on the corals.
Some say will eat a dying coral only and can sense when a coral is suffering and close to death.
Some say had them for years and no trouble.
All say they reproduce very quickly by dropping limbs to form another.
Apparently thees different versions/ colours if these.

Harlequin shrimp eat them ( but they only eat starfish and nothing else so need buy starfish to feed them after they ate all asterina's)
I know you o ly one asterina by sounds if it but just giving you much info I can ^_^

Well said.

 

[Jeff-Ft-Lauderdale]

+1 on asterina star fish.
I never had any but read alot if mixed views on them,
Some say they will eat corals.
Some say will only eat the algae in and on the corals.
Some say will eat a dying coral only and can sense when a coral is suffering and close to death.
Some say had them for years and no trouble.
All say they reproduce very quickly by dropping limbs to form another.
Apparently thees different versions/ colours if these.

Harlequin shrimp eat them ( but they only eat starfish and nothing else so need buy starfish to feed them after they ate all asterina's)
I know you o ly one asterina by sounds if it but just giving you much info I can ^_^

Wow, really? I was sure it was a parasite of some kind.

I can't have it eating my corals. So it might have to go away. But that is really cool.

 

[ying yang]

What is that!! A R2R guide to common new tank hitchhikers.

One of the greatest things about starting a reef tank is getting your live rock in and admiring all the diversity within it. The rock comes to life different creatures. This is a guide that I, along with a very well known critter identifier @KJ , have put together for the new reefer on what...

www.reef2reef.com

Some other common hitch hikers you may encounter.

And if the one you got eats corals idk ,I can only say what I've read which is mixed reviews if do or don't.
Maybe research ot yourself to see if want keep them or not as it's free cuc members ^_^

 

[EricR]

Might want to pull it out while it's easily-accessible until you decide if you want "them" in your tank.

I don't know much so this is not a suggestion, just thoughts:
- If you see one, there are possibly others
- Read that they reproduce by fragmentation (splitting)
- Some note that they can reproduce to plague proportions if not controlled