Brittle Sea Star

[BigTruck6o2]

How do they mate, ive got a bunch of baby ones in my tank, they lay in the sand and you can see there arms when they reach onto the back of the tank real small but theres alot just wondering how i got baby ones

 

[austinsdad]

Don't know about their reproduction, but any new live rock lately? From hitchhiker eggs maybe????? Dunno.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

No, my mom moved her tank so i got the sea star till her tank got up and running again and i brought it back to her and had babys in my tank, and now there is a couple in her tank..weird

 

[IfoundNemo]

I haven't seen mine done it. But, i was told by LFS that brittle star can reproduce into a new brittle star from broken arm parts.

 

[austinsdad]

Found this info. Asexual reproduction confirmed...

Behavior of brittle stars
As the name suggests, the arms of the brittle stars are rather liable to break. This is actually an escape mechanism. Those arms regenerate quickly and an entire new organism can regenerate, if the broken arm is attached to a seizable portion of the disk. Brittle stars can reproduce asexually by self-division. Brittle stars are the most active and fastest moving echinoderms.

Brittle stars feed on plankton but also on detritus, coral-shed mucus, bottom detritus (detritus = organically enriched film that covers rocks), mollusks and worms.

 

[BigTruck6o2]

interesting, thanks

 

[Fuvibo1]

cool info.

 

[msuburg]

wow, that's pretty interesting!