What is it?

[awesomefrog]

I've enjoyed finding new creatures and figuring out what they are--even if they are sometimes things i would prefer not to have in my reef. Recently i just found something that i can't ID. I found it stuck to the glass and moving very, very slow. It looks to me like somebody cut the leg off a starfish, but i haven't seen any starfish in the tank besides micro brittlestars, and i know it's not a brittlestar leg.

Does anybody know what this is?

 

[PAS Photography]

crazy, cool... good or bad I dunno.

 

[bassist6108]

Looks to me like part of an asterina star.

From another site:
"That's a tiny sea star of the genus Asterina. Most of these critters are simply harmless algae and bacteria feeders, but some have been seen chowing SPS tissue. They are quite common in reef tanks, so don't be alarmed unless you see them cruising over on of your Acro's. They reproduce by dropping legs, which explains the odd and highly variable shape!"

I have them and they don't harm anything.

HTH,
Andrea

 

[cichlid nutz]

Microstars....good cleaners except if they do get after your acros. you'll probably see brittlestar micros also about as big as a dime. let em clean........

 

[BenjieC]

I'm going to disagree......it's obviously a dime!!!!

Agreed asterina stars, I've heard they can be bad but IME they have been harmless/beneficial.

 

[awesomefrog]

I guess i should have been more clear. The dime actually came from my pocket. I have heard lots of people talk about putting money into their reefs, but i always assumed they were speaking figuratively.

It would be nice if you could get spare change to propogate in a reef tank. Though i would guess the copper from pennies might not be a good addition.

Thanks for the info on the little starfish. I added him back to the system, and will keep an eye out for any stars going after coral (once i actually add some coral).