seastars (Basket star)
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Havent seen these since the 90's. Very cool
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I know @Kittenslim got one in September - the last update I heard was in February, so I don't know how it's doing now. I know @DHill6 had one for a while too.
To my understanding, as long as there's nothing particularly aggressive in the tank to harass the basket star, they should be fine and get along without issues - keeping them alive long-term seems to be the challenge:
I know @Kittenslim got one in September - the last update I heard was in February, so I don't know how it's doing now. I know @DHill6 had one for a while too.
To my understanding, as long as there's nothing particularly aggressive in the tank to harass the basket star, they should be fine and get along without issues - keeping them alive long-term seems to be the challenge:
Some species seem to be able to take larger pieces of food as well.If you can count the number of madreporites on the star's disk, that would help with an ID.
That said, basket stars (from the taxonomic family Gorgonocephalidae) have been shown to typically feed on both large and small plankton (including bacteria and possibly coral eggs), detritus,* and possibly some of the mucus produced by their host gorgonian as well (though they may be feeding on microbes or biofilm in the mucus rather than the mucus itself, or not feeding on it purposefully at all - or it may be case by case/species dependent; regardless, to my knowledge, this hasn't been very well studied yet).**
The size of the food needed depends in large part on the size of the star, but likely depends on other physical attributes the species as well. At least some of them need to be greater than or equal to 20mm in disk size before they can properly eat more "traditional" plankton foods like copepods.
*Sources:
Gut Microbial Composition and Diversity in Four Ophiuroid Species: Divergence Between Suspension Feeder and Scavenger and Their Symbiotic Microbes
Gut microbiota have important roles in the survival and adaptation of the host. Ophiuroids, as the worldwide dominant benthos, have ecological roles in benthic–pelagic coupling in the sea floor. However, little is known about the composition and ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Cold-Water Soft Corals (Cnidaria: Nephtheidae) as Habitat for Juvenile Basket Stars (Echinodermata: Gorgonocephalidae)
Nephtheidae soft corals are a common component of benthic ecosystems in the Northwest (NW) Atlantic and in the Arctic, but little is known about their functional roles. Here we investigated their role as habitat for basket stars (Ophiuroidea). By examining over 4500 soft coral colonies of Drifa...www.frontiersin.org
**Sources:
Gorgonians Are Foundation Species on Sponge-Dominated Mesophotic Coral Reefs in the Caribbean
Foundation species (FS) regulate ecological processes within communities often facilitating biodiversity and habitat complexity. Typically FS are dominant structure-forming taxa; but less dominant taxa having disproportionate ecological impacts to the community can also be FS. Mesophotic coral...
This seems like another one of those things we should leave in the ocean
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