Hermit Hitchhiker!!...what is THAT?

[ReefKeeperNick]

Hey guys n gals,

The critter journey continues with yet another hitchhiker that's appeared from my new live rock...

Identification please anyone?!

 

[thatone08]

Looks like piece of a starfish to me.

 

[homer1475]

Does it move?

Almost looks to be a nudibranch of some sort to me?

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Looks like piece of a starfish to me.

+1 to this, looks like an asterina that split

 

[ReefKeeperNick]

Thanks people.

Yes it is moving! It bizarrely looks like a miniature version of my Scooter Blenny...

 

[ReefKeeperNick]

I realise that sounds insane.

 

[ReefKeeperNick]

Looks like piece of a starfish to me.

I have lots of brittle Starfish but they don't look like this...

 

[homer1475]

Asterna star is what they were referring to. They often times are either fully shaped, or just small pieces of a star.

Still looks like a nudi to me.

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

If it is a starfish, it's not a brittle. Asterina stars looks like this:

And they reproduce by breaking arms off and those arms grow into new starfish

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

Asterna star is what they were referring to. They often times are either fully shaped, or just small pieces of a star.

Still looks like a nudi to me.

That'd come down to how it moves I guess. I was thinking asterina because of the bend in it, looks like 2 starfish arms.

 

[Aboynamedsous2]

Hey guys n gals,

The critter journey continues with yet another hitchhiker that's appeared from my new live rock...

Identification please anyone?!

I agree it looks like half a asterina star.

 

[ReefKeeperNick]

Thank you all!

I'll see how things progress and get more snaps when my hermit makes another round. It's still happily riding around the tank at the moment...

 

[ReefKeeperNick]

I guess the final question is whether Asterinas are reef safe?

 

[Reefing102]

You’re going to get a 50/50 answer on that. Many here feel they are the devil and should be removed. Me personally, I have hundreds in my tank and none seem to bother anything. I keep them in the tank

 

[LiveFreeAndReef]

I agree with @Reefing102, I've seen people claim they're the devil but I have them with softies, LPS, and SPS and they don't seem to bother a thing. They're like snails in a FW tank, they only "take over" if you're overfeeding. Mine have started to go away now that I have a healthy population of spaghetti worms eating all the leftover food.

 

[thatone08]

I said starfish, because if you zoom in on the picture you can see the little “feet” where nudis, I am by no means an expert, I don’t believe have those.

 

[Nano sapiens]

I agree with @Reefing102, I've seen people claim they're the devil but I have them with softies, LPS, and SPS and they don't seem to bother a thing. They're like snails in a FW tank, they only "take over" if you're overfeeding. Mine have started to go away now that I have a healthy population of spaghetti worms eating all the leftover food.

There are many different species that look very similar. Some eat coral, some eat coralline algae, some eat detritus, etc. I've had the coralline algae eating varmints which I removed (I'm partial to coralline on my rocks).

 

[thatone08]

After looking through reefcleaners. Thinking this might be a sea cucumber?

 

[ReefKeeperNick]

After looking through reefcleaners. Thinking this might be a sea cucumber?

I like your thinking but mine has very small 'feet' like appendages...