ophiura
Active Member
IMO it is more likely they "smell" a stressed or dying coral, but as very little is known about these stars, it is hard to know.
IMO, GARF has hyped this a bit much over the years. I have plenty of Asterina - quite a few colors, and no issues, as do most in the hobby. I don't deny that there are problematic species but there is no need for alarm in most cases.
Sea star specialists (and I have sent probably the top one to a GARF article before and they didn't agree with much) can not identify Asterina from pictures - certainly not by coloration or arm number. I strongly discourage hobbyists from thinking they can identify them and that they need to panic. It needs to be done by the behavior encountered. A predatory species is quite rare. And even then, I would argue in many cases that there is a different problem in some cases causing coral loss. I have seen Asterina implicated in Monti losses...because the Asterina was front and center...but it was nudi's doing the damage once people looked harder. I could easily claim they killed some of my soft corals and euphyllia. I did find one - even removed a couple - that I thought were doing the damage. They were at the scene of the crime. Only the "crime" didn't end when I removed them.
The reality is that my thriving sinularia's are the more likely culprits...and the Asterina may have been enjoying a feast of coral that were dying for other reasons, or doing nothing of the sort.
So the OP may very well have a problematic species. But it is rare to come across. Very rare overall, and not worth any amount of panic. Most issues of coral loss are not due to asterina.
IMO, GARF has hyped this a bit much over the years. I have plenty of Asterina - quite a few colors, and no issues, as do most in the hobby. I don't deny that there are problematic species but there is no need for alarm in most cases.
Sea star specialists (and I have sent probably the top one to a GARF article before and they didn't agree with much) can not identify Asterina from pictures - certainly not by coloration or arm number. I strongly discourage hobbyists from thinking they can identify them and that they need to panic. It needs to be done by the behavior encountered. A predatory species is quite rare. And even then, I would argue in many cases that there is a different problem in some cases causing coral loss. I have seen Asterina implicated in Monti losses...because the Asterina was front and center...but it was nudi's doing the damage once people looked harder. I could easily claim they killed some of my soft corals and euphyllia. I did find one - even removed a couple - that I thought were doing the damage. They were at the scene of the crime. Only the "crime" didn't end when I removed them.
The reality is that my thriving sinularia's are the more likely culprits...and the Asterina may have been enjoying a feast of coral that were dying for other reasons, or doing nothing of the sort.
So the OP may very well have a problematic species. But it is rare to come across. Very rare overall, and not worth any amount of panic. Most issues of coral loss are not due to asterina.
