Beaded Starfish info

[pangaea6]

I've googled and yahoo'd but can't find any specific info on teh above starfish I picked up at the beach on the NC coast. Anyone with info on this creature please let me know. What does it eat, compatability with fish, corals, etc, anything. Thanks.

 

[ophiuroid]

Can you post a picture?

It is quite possibly not reef safe but I would prefer a picture.

In the mean time perhaps look up:

Astropecten articulatus
Echinaster sentus
Echinaster spinulosus

 

[pangaea6]

Here is a link to a picture. It's in my fish only tank right now. I figured better to have a free starfish eaten by expensive fish in stead of expensive corals eaten by a free starfish
http://207.4.179.38/nrid/getDataPub.php?pid=2061

 

[ophiuroid]

A good plan, it is quite predatory. Should be no problem to spot feed But definitely not a good plan for a reef tank!

 

[pangaea6]

I assume it eats what most serpent stars eat, bits of meat (shrimp) and such?

 

[ophiuroid]

Yeah, it is not all that picky!

THis is a quote from "Seastars, Sea Urchins and Allies: Echinoderms of Florida and the Caribbean" by Hendler, Pawson, Keir and Miller

Wells et al. (1961) characterized it as a voracious, nonselective predator. By examining the gut contents of 124 individuals....they identified 91 species of invertebrate prey. The predominant items were gastropod, scaphopod and bivalve mollusks, other prey included small crustaceans, juvenile sand dollars and juvenile A. articulatus...feeds on callico scallops

 

[pangaea6]

Thanks for the info. So far the star has been burying himself in the sand during the day but I see him out wondering at night.