Help ID this hitchhiker

[phillyb614]

Hello everyone,

I saw this guy crawling on the glass the other day. I couldn’t get a good shot of the other side of him until this evening. Does anyone know what this is? I almost want to say the underside of him looks like a starfish, but isn’t quite the shape of a star. It’s only about as big as my pinky nail. Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

 

[Reeflix]

Asterina starfish. They do eat some soft coral so i would kill it.

 

[DaJMasta]

Asterina starfish. They do eat some soft coral so i would kill it.

Worth mentioning that the vast majority we see do not eat coral. Some people have issues with them multiplying in their tank very rapidly and just being everywhere, fewer have a variety that eats corals (and often they look somewhat like their target), and some, like myself, have had a few in the system for years with no negative outcomes.

The shape is because starfish have a really significant ability to regenerate missing parts. It's not uncommon to find a starfish that has one giant leg and a tiny body and that's because that one leg regenerated the rest of it.

 

[Reeflix]

Worth mentioning that the vast majority we see do not eat coral. Some people have issues with them multiplying in their tank very rapidly and just being everywhere, fewer have a variety that eats corals (and often they look somewhat like their target), and some, like myself, have had a few in the system for years with no negative outcomes.

I agree, most of them don't eat coral, but it isn't worth the risk in my opinion.