Asterina Starfish

General information

These little guys have gotten sort of a mixed review as far as their “reef-safeness” is concerned. Most people have seen them munching happily away on film algae while some claim that they have eaten their corals. One thing is for sure is that they multiply quickly causing them to be a pain whether they are coral safe or not.

Then there are others who have seen them destroying a Leathers, Acropora or Gorgonian. There are two theories circulating about these differing behaviors. One is that there is more than one species and are very difficult to tell apart; one eats film algaes and the other eats corals. But then there is also the theory that they are opportunistic and feed on corals when their supply of algaes are running out. But don’t jump to conclusions that they are consuming your corals when you seen them on there… more than likely they are just cleaning to film off the coral. The odds of finding a coral predator are low.

They may be seen wearing different colors. Their base color is white/tan and they then adopt film algae and coralline for varied color. They can have many legs and many shapes.