Sea star ID please

[Parraman]

Is this a good or bad sea star?

 

[Calappidae]

They multiple into thousands quickly, and most are reef safe, but there is no way of telling.

 

[alb_56]

Asterina star

 

[Parraman]

I have had sps that loose their flesh but the polyps were fine... Could this be the culprit?

 

[alb_56]

I have always had these in my tanks and they have never caused any problems. The big debate is whether they are dangerous or not. They are a big family of different kinds but I think most reports of predatory members are toward zoanthids not SPS I think.

 

[cloak]

I have had sps that loose their flesh but the polyps were fine... Could this be the culprit?

I have heard of this before.

http://chucksaddiction.thefishestate.net/ (Info Links > HitchHikers > Starfish)

Until somebody can distinguish the good ones from the bad ones I will continue to treat them all as bad. :thumbdown

 

[alb_56]

Thanks for that link Cloak.

If I remember right harlequin shrimp eat them if you want to remove them.

 

[Calappidae]

Thanks for that link Cloak.

If I remember right harlequin shrimp eat them if you want to remove them.

Some asterinas actually get rejected by Harlequin shrimp.

An example being the kind which activitly breeds in my 125, despite there being a pair of harlequin shrimp, which often walk over and ignore them. Although some members never heard of this behavior, showing the rarity it's "that" species.

 

[ErosJN]

My harlequin loved these snack sized stars