ID this starfish pls?

BluMac · May 6, 2024

Hi! Been looking at this forum for years and years now, and this is my first ever post! I found this starfish in my tank. Looks a little like a micro bristle starfish but is clearly shaped differently from other bristle starfish pictures I've seen. Any ideas? Thank you!

MoshJosh · May 6, 2024

Brittle Star.

Also this:

Small white starfish like a little brittle star

Anyone know if these are a bad thing? My lfs has no idea. There are at least a few hundred in the tank

www.reef2reef.com

maybe not the "typical" micro brittle star, but some similar/related species.

littlefoxx · May 6, 2024

Based on size its a micro brittle star as stated above. Good guys

TangerineSpeedo · May 6, 2024

There are many different varieties of micro brittles. Great little guys!
I am sure @ISpeakForTheSeas has a bit of knowledge he can impart.

ISpeakForTheSeas · May 6, 2024

BluMac said:
Hi! Been looking at this forum for years and years now, and this is my first ever post! I found this starfish in my tank. Looks a little like a micro bristle starfish but is clearly shaped differently from other bristle starfish pictures I've seen. Any ideas? Thank you!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

As mentioned, you have some variety of Micro Brittle Starfish - there are a lot of kinds, some more common in the hobby than others.

Ophiuroids (Brittle/Serpent Stars) can be quite difficult to ID, but the majority are harmless for a tank. If you want to try for an ID on yours, then I'd suggest getting close up pics of the top and bottom of star's central disk, and getting close up pics of the individual arms (preferably top, bottom, and side) from where they connect to the central disk to at least halfway down the arm (making sure the spines on the arms are clearly visible, as they - particularly the ones relatively close to the central disk - are frequently used for specific ID's).

Even then, no guarantees on a specific ID (I don't try to do specific ID's on ophiuroids often), but that's the best chance for one.