Serpent star legs have life of their own

[JCote]

I went away for a week in February and came back home to find my 40 gal TBS tank to be between 40-50 degrees (batteries died on the house thermostat and I didn't have a heater in the tank so it chilled with the rest of the house).

Everything in the tank weathered just fine except the serpent star. The leathery body was gone and the only thing left was just the five legs attached at the center. I assumed he was a goner but since he was still moving around, I waited to see what would happen.
He didn't die but I have no idea how he has survived all of these months being nothing but a set of legs attached at the center with no apparent way to eat/digest food.
Today (seven months later), he's taken a turn for the worse - two of the legs detached. I thought that was the end, but when I went in to get him out, he's still moving. Then, I went for each of the legs but **they're still crawling around too**!

I understand that a starfish can survive without some legs, but how are some legs surviving without a starfish??

I need to go away again and will probably take the rest of the star and detached legs out before they cause any problems but I'm really interested if anyone can shed some light on what is going on here.

Thanks,
John

 

[Reefing102]

from what i have heard if there is still some part of the body attached to the legs each leg will grow a completely new star (as long as its healthy.

 

[figuerres]

Re: Serpent star legs have life of their own

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13405896#post13405896 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JCote
I went away for a week in February and came back home to find my 40 gal TBS tank to be between 40-50 degrees (batteries died on the house thermostat and I didn't have a heater in the tank so it chilled with the rest of the house).

Everything in the tank weathered just fine except the serpent star. The leathery body was gone and the only thing left was just the five legs attached at the center. I assumed he was a goner but since he was still moving around, I waited to see what would happen.
He didn't die but I have no idea how he has survived all of these months being nothing but a set of legs attached at the center with no apparent way to eat/digest food.
Today (seven months later), he's taken a turn for the worse - two of the legs detached. I thought that was the end, but when I went in to get him out, he's still moving. Then, I went for each of the legs but **they're still crawling around too**!

I understand that a starfish can survive without some legs, but how are some legs surviving without a starfish??

I need to go away again and will probably take the rest of the star and detached legs out before they cause any problems but I'm really interested if anyone can shed some light on what is going on here.

Thanks,
John

well serpent stars are a bit different from "sea stars" but they are almost the same.

take a sea start and cut off a leg and you get a second star ....
I'm not 100% sure if that will work with a serpent star.
but it sounds like it might.

 

[greenbean36191]

Actually, only some sea stars can regenerate a whole new body from just a leg. Many cannot.

Serpent and brittle stars, which aren't true sea stars can never regenerate a new body from just a leg, even if there is some of the body attached. They generally need at least a major portion of 3 legs, plus a good chunk of the body to regenerate. You can actually make predictions about which species of brittle stars reproduce by splitting and which don't because the ones that do will have 6 legs.

The detached legs in your tank will eventually run out of energy as they have no way to eat, and then they will die. Echinoderms can go a surprisingly long time without food though, so it can take up to several weeks for the legs to stop moving.