Pics of a Baby Brittle Star

[areijin]

I caught him on a cleaning job of my sump when I turned on the lights in the middle of the day. My Green Brittle Star in my main tank if huge, maybe 2 feet from leg to leg. This little guy was the size of a quarter at most. I guess my big guy went "A" sexual sicne I haven't bought anything that he could have traveled on. I didn't even know they could do that. Sorry I'm long winded.

 

[areijin]

second pic

 

[thegrog]

awwww, he's cute.

I don't think your star went assexual. He probably hitchiked on something a long time back and was very tiny at the time. They are mostly nocturnal so you probably havn't seen him for a long time.

 

[rubberduck]

soo cute

 

[yosemite sam]

It's probably a 'mini' brittle starfish and won't get bigger than that. Many of us have then in our tanks, but never see then since they tend to hide in small crevices. They divide to reproduce, so if you look carefully in your tank, I bet you'll see others. Usually all you'll ever see are their small arms poking out of lr rock.

 

[starfishjackedme]

Mine did, I had about a hundred just like that in my CC substrate. I have since changed it out, but stars can reproduce in the aquarium.

 

[ophiura]

This is the common hitch hiker Amphipholis squamata, one of the most common animals on the planet. It is found from the tropics to arctic waters, and from the intertidal to the deep sea - and in most tanks.
It is not one that reproduces by splitting (there are common one's in our tanks - they are six armed species). Rather it is a self fertilizing hermaphrodite that broods its young. A single individual can give rise to dozens - maybe even more than that.
This is NOT an offspring of the larger brittle. There is evidence that those guys might reproduce in some tanks - but it is very rare, and it would not look like this. This one is extremely common, and beneficial. It will not get much larger than this. I suspect you actually have lots of them.

 

[yosemite sam]

Hmmm....I don't know why I thought they split.....:thinking: And, Ophiura, since you're thinking about little starfish IDs, I don't suppose I could bug you to do that little blurb about asterinas for the ID thread.