i.d. this star

[BadRoma1]

:look: i found it sitting on my clam. i hope i put the picture in. i'll check. if not i'll try again.

[BadRoma1]

i'm trying to put the pics in, but can't do it. help, please. :help:sorry, i can't get my pics smaller. the star has 4 fat legs, it's small and dirty white with pink patches.

[BadRoma1]

here it is. it's a baby star. it's out of a tank because i have corals and clam. should i kill it or keep it?

[fishcatch22]

kill it or keep it, its your choice.

[BadRoma1]

i don't like to kill anything unless it will kill something in my tank. i don't know if it's reef safe. that's why i'm posting.

[fishcatch22]

well, see if looks like it wants to eat something in your tank. if not, keep it. if so, kill it.

[BadRoma1]

well, it was sitting on my clam, that's why i took it out. somebody on another forum i.d.ed the star for me. it's probably predatory. please, post if you know what it is and what it does only. stop messing around. so far it looks like it's an asterina anomala.

[BadRoma1]

here is another pic. :look:

[RothChyld]

Badroma, I am going out on a limb here so take this for what you will as I am no marine biologist. I have a ton of Asterina stars similar to yours only white (over a hundred). It is in my opinion that Asterina stars are adaptive to what they eat. In other words, I believe their preferred diet would be algae and detritus. If those 2 food sources are gone, they will scavenge until they find something else to eat which could in fact be coral tissue. Like I said I have many in my tank and to this point have never seen them on any of my livestock.

In the case of the clams, I have seen them on the mantle but never on the tissue. This would be a sign of algae eating as far as I am concerned and I have not been worried.

I would monitor them and see what they are feeding on. If its coral, I would remove them immediately before it gets out of hand. If my food source disappears, I might be in there with tweezers for a week yanking them out. Also note they are visibly seen much more at night. They love my macros and the glass so that might be an easier way to get them out.

Mike

[BadRoma1]

he was sitting on the tissue before i took him out, but on the shell when i first seen him.

[RothChyld]

I think you did the right thing then. Hopefully the white ones act somewhat differently. I have 2 clams and so far I havent seen this behavior. Was it during the day or night? I might need to keep a better eye out. Where was it on the clam tissue? Was he inside or somehow nestled on the tissue that is out overlapping the mantle?

[BadRoma1]

otside of the clam, right near the shell. he was not white, he had little bit of pink on him. non of my other stars ever climed on the clam ever before, only on the shell.