Little Tiny Starfish

[rrdodge1283]

Found 2 of these on my rock and heard they could be dangerous to corals they are about the size of the letters on this page. Is this the type that eats soft corals (It is not a brittle star)

[ajwaters]

are they on the glass too?

ive had little "star fish" on my glass before they were hydroid sp? jelly fish no harm from what i can remember.. but never really noticed if there were on the rock or not. So i could be thinking of a totally different thing.

[reefrunner69]

Does it look like this?



If so it is an Asterina sp star, there are a few different species, some eat detritus and algae, some eat bacteria and some eat coral polyps. IME, the stark white ones are pretty safe, the mottled looking ones like the one pictured are the sps eaters.

[SquishyFish]

I started to ask if it looks like a small brittle, but you answered that already.? We have several different pics of one on our site that you can check out. Both are harmless.

HTH

Squishy
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[rrdodge1283]

Found the articale that I was looking for. It is a asterina anomala and found only 2. There may be more, feed at night. Harloquin shrimp is the natural predator. It does feed on corals, soft and hard. Mostly polyp stonys.
Articale credit: Seascope, volume 18, Summer 01