A Many-Armed Sea Monster?

[PootyTang]

This is just a quick question to make me feel better. I recently discovered what appears to be a juvinile basket star in my 125 gallon. It hangs off a branching gorgonian all day and at night I see its arms spread out. Right now, its about an inch in diameter, but its grown about a half inch in a few weeks. The star is beige with pink stripes, although its tough to tell because of the small size and it has BRIGHT orange spots on its central disk. It is really a beautiful star, and I've never heard of a basket staying small so I imagine it will continue to grow so I wanted to confirm that there are not any species of basket (or similar looking stars to a basket- like a feather star) that could be harmful to my tank when it gets bigger.

 

[cbrownfish]

Basket stars do not typically survive well in our reef tanks but if it was a hitchhiker, I would probably leave it alone and see how it does. Posting a picture would help accurately identify the animal you have.

 

[PootyTang]

Finally managed to get a decent picture, its arms aren't out cuz the lights are on, but its the best way to see the colours

 

[BigJay]

can't help you with the ID but it sure is cool looking

 

[Reefmack]

This previous thread may be helpful - yours looks like the same or very similar star:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/reef-hitchhiker-id/37802-gorgonocephalus-sp.html#post543053

Advanced Aquarist Photo Gallery Spotlight

 

[PootyTang]

So I think its probably the Gorgonocephalus like was in the other thread, just a wicked cool colour morph. I'm for sure going to leave it on there, since it has been on there for like 4 months and I don't see any problems with the gorgonian. If anyone has seen something like this, I'd love to get a more specific I.D.

 

[lcstorc]

I want one.
That is seriously cool looking and my gorg grows really quickly.

 

[PootyTang]

Any idea how big they get? I checked out the gorgonian today and I can't see a single head missing, though I'd be more than happy to feed it to him

 

[nightfire76]

it is very kool,love to have one

 

[Ssullivan]

They get about 12-18" across, they are filter feeders they just hold on to the gorgonian, when they are big, they spend all day in a ball about the size of a baseball and at night feed, they look cool as hell when they get bigger becuse they are more branch-y