Brittle starfish releasing bubbles

[Denisk]

Hello all,

so this is a first for me. I look over at my tank and my brittle starfish out of its arm is releasing 1000’s of bubbles my tank literally looks like I was running an airstone.

Is that normal? Any chance it’s harmful to anything?

Thanks all!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Hello all,

so this is a first for me. I look over at my tank and my brittle starfish out of its arm is releasing 1000’s of bubbles my tank literally looks like I was running an airstone.

Is that normal? Any chance it’s harmful to anything?

Thanks all!

That sounds like it may be a spawning female. Is it popped up onto its tiptoes?

 

[Denisk]

That sounds like it may be a spawning female. Is it popped up onto its tiptoes?

Not sure what that means since I never actually see the starfish. They literally live in only one specific rock but it just stuck one of its arms out and was releasing a billion little bubbles.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Not sure what that means since I never actually see the starfish. They literally live in only one specific rock but it just stuck one of its arms out and was releasing a billion little bubbles.

I’m assuming the bubbles may be eggs. The article below has a couple of pics - at least some species of brittle star will push themselves up by the tips of their arms and hold their central disk suspended above the sediment to spawn. True starfish do this too.

A Look at the Ophiuroids: Brittle, Serpent, and Basket Stars

With their long wiry arms and exotic colors, Ophiuroids are some of the reef's most beautiful and intricate creatures. James Fatherree describes the general information and aquarium husbandry of this amazing class of echinoderms.

reefs.com

Edit: pics of the tiptoes spawning pose, not of their eggs.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Yeah, i know what @ISpeakForTheSeas is referring to...a lot of echinoderms take a stance where they lift up the part of their body releasing the gametes...not only stars but cucumbers do this as well...here are a couple pics from a book