Anyone seen this brittle star before?

[Ursus]

I've had this guy for about 3 months and he has been doing great. Was sold to me as a 'zebra brittle star' but the other ones I see that are zebra's don't have the same markings. In fact, every striped variety I have seen has some, but not all the markings found. Do marking vary from animal to animal within the species? This one came from Hawaii I believe, if that helps.

 

[greenstarman]

I don't know why but those things creep me out.

 

[rchan11]

Have never seen that color pattern before. Mine is black.

 

[keithntracy]

That's an awesome looking star. Hmmm...wonder where I can get one of those. We have a maroonish one and a harlequin. At first I thought maybe it was a harlequin but looking closer, maybe not. Here's mine.

 

[Ursus]

Yeah, it doesn't have the the spots like a harlequin. I've seen a lot with the stripes and bars on the center body, but not with the circle and bars on the center with a dot. Has been a pretty shy guy untill recently. Coming out much more at night and munching on tidbits he finds/ I leave for him.

 

[ROB2005]

greenstar...why do they creep you out?

 

[LeslieH]

It looks like one called Ophioplocus imbricatus. Markings do vary between animals and the intensity of the pigment will vary as well.