Went to the rocks at Takapuna boat ramp today to get some limpets, and look what i found! He will be going in the tank tommorrow.

These things must have a hard life in the wild, you can see every one of its tentacles are recovering from injury.

Supa cool, hope hes safe :lol:

Yes, thought of that, but it's not one of those dreaded green fish eating machines, so i thought i'd try it.

Would be nice to get an ID but not really sure where to do this.

Snake Tail Brittlestar I think.

Looks like this?

http://www.marinenz.org.nz/index.php/resources/image_detail/snake_tail_brittlestar/

Cheers

Ian

legs broken off ?

thats why they call them brittle stars - defence mechanism

This page has info on NZ starfish etc.

http://www.seafriends.org.nz/enviro/habitat/rsechino.htm

Cheers

Ian

Have a look here, Wasp.

Somewhere between numbers 21 to 29 possibly?

http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-B ... dy-d7.html

Sorry no photos, though.

Thanks for that, Wow, what a helpful bunch of people!

I think it's a mottled brittlestar, a NZ native, the picture is similar and the description of the armplates is the same. Going by the behavioural description it will be a great addition to a tank.

Quote "f019023: the mottled brittlestar (Ophionereis fasciata) [weki huna] does not move by means of its tubefeet but walks on its arms quickly to safety. It is seldom found in the open, but lives underneath stones or inside cavities from where it extends its arms. It feeds on plankton and detritus. Food sticks to mucus and is then transported to the central mouth by many almost invisible tubefeet."

What surprises me they are described as common. Don't think I've ever seen one before, a few smaller ones of a different more skinny species, but not that one. Reading those links it was also surprising just how many different brittlestars we have in NZ, seems we have a ton of them!

Possibly they're just not found in rockpools often. If you're not a diver you wouldn't see anything beyond that.

spend most of their time under rocks, so you dont get to see them very much.

if you are turning over rocks while looking for things, please put the rock back in the same position. e.g right way up

You want brittlestars? Search the rockpools on the Kaikoura coast. They are full of them

well went for a snorkel to get some scallops this afternoon. water was nice and warm at 16 deg.. bad vis so not many scallops but seen heaps of starfish (by the thousands) coming back in at low tide but none like that. i guess it hides all day and comes out at night like most brittle stars do.

So- forgive my ignorance- but can brittlestars from our rockpools live in tropical tanks? (I assume they would have to be able to withstand pretty high temps periodically at low tide..But all the time at 25-26 degrees?)

Hmmm...if so methinks I shall have to take the 30 second walk down to the rockpools tomorrow for a looksee!!

the little blennies and triple fins do all right so long as you keep the water at the bottom of the tropical range

wont stand it above that for too long

my parore enjoys 24 - 25

Drat! One day will have a coldwater tank..One day! Hehehe

Not sure about this brittlestar but just thought i'd give it a shot. I do have a few native invertebrates in the tank although most of them are rarely seen, some have been there several years. Agree with Mystic though a lot of native stuff will not last too long.

I got the same star about 2 weeks ago when I was @ Mt Maunganui. Cool little critters...seems to be doing very well. Can just see the tip of his legs, feeding. My skunk shrimp found this very interesting when I first put him in...tried to yank it. He's given up...probably realises that the little thing he's a-yank'n is a tad bigger than him - lol.

Another cool thing I've seen is that the leg that broke off one starfish when I first got the it, is thriving...active as. Found himself a nice shell to protect himself with...love to see if it grows into a new star:) Looks kinda wierd at the mo :lol: I'll try get a pic

That's interesting Volkster, please keep us posted. If your tentacle re-grows, I may "frag" mine also.

Here's some pics:

Cool eh? 8)

thats so cool

Freaky!

I know nothing of marine/reef keeping but love to check this forum out!

Curious, is that a tentacle in the white shell, is that what is thriving on its own or did I read wrong. I knew that starfish could regrow a tentacle (if correct word :-? ) but I didn't know that a lone tentacle could survive without a body, so to speak??????

Caper

From Wikipedia.

Some species of starfish have the ability to regenerate lost arms and can regrow an entire new arm in time. Most species must have the central part of the body intact to be able to regenerate, but a few can grow an entire starfish from a single ray. Included in this group are the red and blue Linckia star. The regeneration of these stars is possible due to the vital organs kept in their arms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish

Yes some species can regrow a body from one arm

Pretty freaky.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks Ian...and you're right...freaky

Caper

its cool tho 8)