Unknown starfish

Dirty_Birdy · Jan 3, 2019

I found this guy on a rock while observing my tank. At first glance I was thinking an asterina starfish, but it is much larger than asterina get (or at least to my knowledge). I caught it and took pics of it... then put it back in my tank ;Facepalm... wishing I put it in my sump until I ID it. Any ideas what it could be?

sfin52 · Jan 3, 2019

Welcome to Reef2reef

Looks like an astrea. Some say they eat coral while others say they are just part of the cuc and model citizen. They can multiple quickly. Nice find.

rkpetersen · Jan 3, 2019

Rather large asterina, I think. I've seen them almost that big.

sfin52 · Jan 3, 2019

The ones I had were very close to that size

Dirty_Birdy · Jan 4, 2019

Thanks, I’ve had asterina in my tank for a couple years now, no issues with coral being eaten. Definitely have not seen one this big... till now.

sfin52 · Jan 4, 2019

3/4 inches maybe a bit larger. yours looks to be about that size. Shouldn't get any bigger than what you have there.

DSC reef · Jan 4, 2019

Agree with asterina. We've pulled some surprisingly large ones before.

S-t-r-e-t-c-h · Jan 4, 2019

Asterina is a genus of starfish and not every species is as reef safe as others.

That definitely looks like an asterina starfish but I'd not put that particular one back in the tank. Should be pretty easy to recover when it comes out next time, but I'd definitely put it in the sump...

rkpetersen · Jan 4, 2019

S-t-r-e-t-c-h said:
Asterina is a genus of starfish and not every species is as reef safe as others.

That definitely looks like an asterina starfish but I'd not put that particular one back in the tank. Should be pretty easy to recover when it comes out next time, but I'd definitely put it in the sump...

I'd put it in my other tank. The one with the two hungry Harlequin shrimp. This would be in the 'more than a light snack but not quite a full meal' range.

DSC reef · Jan 4, 2019

rkpetersen said:
I'd put it in my other tank. The one with the two hungry Harlequin shrimp. This would be in the 'more than a light snack but not quite a full meal' range.

Miss watching our harlequin go crazy for asterinas!

Peteandmax · Jan 18, 2019

Just found this on the side of my tank just wondering if this is a starfish I believe so, also wondering how it got there. Hope some could help me out, if it is how it did it get their and how to care for it.
Thank You.

Mikedawg · Jan 18, 2019

Peteandmax said:
Just found this on the side of my tank just wondering if this is a starfish I believe so, also wondering how it got there. Hope some could help me out, if it is how it did it get their and how to care for it.
Thank You.

Also looks like an asterina; you don't have to take care of it, it will do fine on its own and soon you'll have many more. Many reefers remove them from time to time so they don't overpopulate your tank. Also, some evidence that certain species are not reef compatible, i.e., they will eat/damage coral.
They are classic hitchhikers and come in on coral frags, live rock, etc. Just about everyone has them at one time or another and the right species is a good member of your CUC. Unfortunately it is hard to identify those that damage coral from those that don't.

Peteandmax · Jan 18, 2019

Thank you I did buy, not knowing, a bleached GBA. Thank you for your help.

Peteandmax · Jan 18, 2019

Peteandmax said:
Just found this on the side of my tank just wondering if this is a starfish I believe so, also wondering how it got there. Hope some could help me out, if it is how it did it get their and how to care for it.
Thank You.

Thank you I really appreciate it I’ll then and a little more today 4 month in reefing learning a lot thank you