Linckia multifora - Can They Be Green?

[Nikon_Guy]

I discovered a small comet star that must have hitch hiked in on some live rock. When I first discovered it, it was quite small and white in color. About a month later it looks as it does in the picture below.

It sure appears to be a spotted linkia, but in all the searching I have done, I have never seen or even read of one being green. Is this a mutant or something else entirely?

 

[ophiuroid]

Yes, that is, IMO, Linckia multiflora. Also due to the fact that it "hitch hiked" - this is the only Linckia I have heard that is relatively hardy enough to survive that.

 

[Nikon_Guy]

Thanks, my thoughts too.

Have you ever heard or seen a green varity before?

 

[ophiuroid]

The color can be so variable in this species that it really doesn't surprise me at all.

What I still find very very difficult to believe is that seastar scientists may very well consider Linckia multiflora and Linckia laevigata (aka the "blue Linckia) to by the same species. I just see such a HUGE difference in survival and tolerance between the two in this hobby, I just find it very very difficult to believe.

 

[Nikon_Guy]

Good point, there is that difference between the two in addition to coloring.

But in the defense of science, I would think that they are correct in leaving it within the same specie.

Take the human specie for example. All humans regardless of race or origin are classified as the same specie. Depending on the origin of the specie, humans developed different characteristics to help them better deal with the different challenges their environment presented them with.