Micro brittle star with some jumping abilities.

[BristleWormHater]

So I dosed photo for my feather dusters and a brittle star looking thing jumped out of the rock before getting pushed back in by the pumps. It was completely white, although I might have seen the underside. The only reason I’m posting this is because it only had four legs and they were perfectly symmetrical which seems odd it had 2 on each side and equal distance apart. Is this something else? No picture because it is lost in the rocks somewhere. Any Ideas?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Is it one of these?

Micro brittle stars ^^
Aquilonastra (asterina) vv

Both of these can have 4 arms. Aquilinostra reproduce by breaking themselves apart, so one could easily have four. Brittle stars are very brittle so one leg could have easily fallen off.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Is it one of these?

Micro brittle stars ^^
Aquilonastra (asterina) vv

Both of these can have 4 arms. Aquilinostra reproduce by breaking themselves apart, so one could easily have four. Brittle stars are very brittle so one leg could have easily fallen off.

Definitely not asterina is it was much larger and had the spaghetti arms

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Definitely not asterina is it was much larger and had the spaghetti arms

Okay. If you're sure it is a brittle star, it could either of lost an arm or be a genetic mutation. Did you see any stump where an arm would be?

 

[BristleWormHater]

Is it one of these?

Micro brittle stars ^^
Aquilonastra (asterina) vv

Both of these can have 4 arms. Aquilinostra reproduce by breaking themselves apart, so one could easily have four. Brittle stars are very brittle so one leg could have easily fallen off.

Definitely just a brittle star I just saw him poke out from the rocks, couldn’t get pic before he went back in though.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Okay. If you're sure it is a brittle star, it could either of lost an arm or be a genetic mutation. Did you see any stump where an arm would be?

No

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

No

Okay. Because they're so small it could be hard to see the stump, so my guess on why it has 4 arms is because it lost one. But there's always a possibility for a genetic mutation.

 

[BristleWormHater]

The tub this live rock was kept in had a banded brittle star and I saw similar patterns on him just now is could it be a juvenile?

 

[BristleWormHater]

Still trying to get a pic

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

The tub this live rock was kept in had a banded brittle star and I saw similar patterns on him just now is could it be a juvenile?

Could be, yes.