Is this asterina?

[Krzydmnd]

Hi all! I be seen this guy crawling around the past few days (to the right of shrimp) . He's huge! Like when his other legs grow back he'll be over an inch wide.

Asterina? I have a few other really small ones that I've left alone for now, but this guy is easily. 10x bigger.

 

[Labridaedicted]

Looks like an asterina to me

 

[jsker]

I can not quite tell, from the picture.

 

[Hitmans reef]

Yes it is I have several of them in a 40b with my pair of clowns and tons of mushrooms some plays and few other things it seems to me at this point they haven’t ate any corals, haven’t damaged any equipment and the fish are just fine. However I’ve always heard they are a pest so if I could remove them I did. They honestly seem interested in just cleaning up the tank rather than harming anything though

 

[Dsnakes]

What color is it? May be way off, but it almost looks like it has the ridges and points of a chocolate chip. Could just be the angle though.

 

[Krzydmnd]

Thanks. I just haven't seem any this large before. I have some shrooms, various sps and pipe organ and so far he's been content slithering around on the rocks that I've seen. I'm going to leave him alone until I see otherwise.

Thank you, just wanted to run it past the group for confirmation.

 

[themcnertney]

They can get pretty big. I still cant tell from your picture for a correct ID. I found this guy on my glass last night, size of a quarter.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

What color is it? May be way off, but it almost looks like it has the ridges and points of a chocolate chip. Could just be the angle though.

Kind of looks like a very small chocolate chip to me too. Asterinas are usually much smoother.

 

[andrewkw]

There are many different kinds of asterinas. The picture isn't super clear but I'd be willing to bet it is one variety of asterina and more than likely it is a reef safe one. There is of course a chance it could be one of the few coral eating kinds. That being said I see a lot of people panic about them. Just monitor your corals and if nothing is shrinking it's likely not eating any corals. Don't be surprised if the population explodes. I probably have 1000s in my 112 gallon and the simplest way for me to know they are not eating coral is I am not losing coral and I have 1000s of starfish in the tank.

They are a great (free) cleanup crew member.

 

[Hitmans reef]

The astrenia that I have found have had some bumps and ridges and yea appeared to look like a chocolate chip starfish however the common sign of it NOT being that is the fact that they grow unusual appendages and in weird shapes.

 

[Krzydmnd]

Currently he's only two legs, but has 5 more buds.

 

[S-t-r-e-t-c-h]

Currently he's only two legs, but has 5 more buds.

Ok, that does add some perspective. I had assumed the other three legs were in a crevice or something, making it look much thicker than it actually is. Yeah, probably an asterina...