Looks nice - anyone have a name for it?

[Mark Bradley]

About 2cm in size.

 

[Mark Bradley]

Obviously looking to see if it’s a named starfish

 

[NanoJHB]

Asterina star

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

They eat algae. Some of them are rumored to eat soft coral like zoas. I have not witnessed the latter.

 

[A Young Reefer]

Asterina star

+1

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Just to add some info on these stars to the discussion (pasted from another of my posts):

Yeah, asterina starfish (technically Aquilonastra, but known in the hobby as Asterina). Personally, I like them, but they do reproduce quickly (very quickly), and some people believe they eat corals (see my quotes below).

ISpeakForTheSeas said:
With regards to whether or not they eat corals, it might be a species specific thing, it might be a you have way too many starfish so they're out of other food options thing, or it might be they're eating the slime coat/mucus on the coral rather than the coral itself (see below).

The quote I referred to in my quote above:

Timfish said:
It's an Aquilonastra spp. starfish and is a great scavenger. I see them with anywhere from 4 to 12 legs. The whole discusion around them seems to me excellent examples of misidentification, mistaken behaviour and assumed causality based just on heresay without looking at the research. Asterina spp starfish are preditary but only reproduce sexually and are shortlived so while it's possible some might get into a tank even if it did happen it's not going to be around long. Aquilonastra are one of the uncommon species that reproduce fissiparous or by splitting so are easy to identify by the different sized legs regrown after splitting. They perform an important function not only feeding off algae films but also feeding off microbial films including those on corals (at least ones that don't sting). FYI the mucus coating on corals ages and corals have to periodicely shed it to renew it and maintian healthy microbial processes (Ref 1, Ref 2). If Aquilonastra are feeding on zoas or softies I'll argue they are either benign or even beneficial as they may be reducing the unhealthy older mucus which can be full of unhealthy microbes which the animal is trying to get rid of and are far more likely to be the actual problem.

Here's an example, this Toadstool is doing one of it's periodic sheddings. The Aquilonastra have been in this system for years but only climb onto the Toadstool when it's shedding. In the first picture you can see the old mucus film, Aquilonastra starfish and areas they have cleaned off. The second picture shows the Toadstool a week later.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

+1

+2 (equals 3?)

 

[A Young Reefer]

+2 (equals 3?)

Hmmm wait let me ask my math teacher.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Get it out imo, im battling them in 2 systems, its not fun if that helps.

 

[TiggerMillions]

You see those colors on its back? Is it flourescent? It is probable that its munching on ur zoas or corals if it is.

 

[Mark Bradley]

I’ve had Asterina’s before - they are normally minuscule (couple of mm’s) compared to this (2cm’s) and always non symmetrical . This was in my overflow so not sure what it has been doing the last few years as it was unmissable. Having looked them up on ‘Google’ it suggests they can reach 2cm’s so perhaps this is the ‘daddie’? I normally pick out one of the small ones every couple of weeks.

 

[Mark Bradley]

You see those colors on its back? Is it flourescent? It is probable that its munching on ur zoas or corals if it is.

Not flourescent - I do have a number of Zoas but all look ok thankfully.

 

[Mark Bradley]

Get it out imo, im battling them in 2 systems, its not fun if that helps.

It’s been discarded - just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it at the top of my overflow. It’s too big to miss so not sure where it’s been hiding

 

[Mark Bradley]

Just to add some info on these stars to the discussion (pasted from another of my posts):

Yeah, asterina starfish (technically Aquilonastra, but known in the hobby as Asterina). Personally, I like them, but they do reproduce quickly (very quickly), and some people believe they eat corals (see my quotes below).

The quote I referred to in my quote above:

Reading this, if they don’t live long, it must be rare to find one 2cm?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Reading this, if they don’t live long, it must be rare to find one 2cm?

It depends on the species - some of them can get up to almost 4" (~10cm). Most common ones in the hobby are tiny, but there are actually a number of Aquilonastra species that get larger than 2cm.

 

[A Young Reefer]

I believe yours is an asterina phylactia I had three of them in a fowlr tank. They lived for 2 months and I then rehomed them since I needed to take the tank down.

 

[exnisstech]

I have hundreds in my larger tank that do no harm. But they don't eat enough algae to be benificial ime. I take a net and scoop them off the glass for a disposal as I find them to be a bit of an eyesore on the front glass. Of course this is when my Gal isn't home as they are "oh so cute". I pluck them out of my smaller tank as soon as I see them. If my Gal is home I have to put them in the big tank for later removal lol.

 

[minus9]

Aquilonastra and completely harmless CUC. These guys and bristle worms are always getting a bad rap. If you have them and their numbers/population seems high, it’s because they have plenty to eat (algae and detritus). Some people don’t like them because that eat coralline as well, but that’s one of the reasons why I like them, they keep it under control. Here’s some science.