brittle star

[otisbooard]

my brittlestar has lost the majority length of its legs, is this because it is reproducing through fission or something else?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

it usually means its dying, usually either by starvation or poor water quality.

 

[otisbooard]

it usually means its dying, usually either by starvation or poor water quality.

i hope that it is reproducing as

ife History​

A brittle star coiled around a deep-sea pink coral in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Photo Credit: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research 2015

Some species of brittle stars reproduce sexually while others clone themselves by fission, and some species are capable of both. They start their lives as eggs, which hatch to become larvae that float along in the water column until they settle on the seafloor. They will become juvenile brittle stars within a matter of months and are generally mature at two or three years. Their lifespans reach a maximum of around five years.​

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

How's the star doing today? For reproduction via fission, the star would be dropping the legs from the central disk (so from the middle part out rather than the outer part in), and typically the leg would have part of the disk with it.

 

[otisbooard]

How's the star doing today? For reproduction via fission, the star would be dropping the legs from the central disk (so from the middle part out rather than the outer part in), and typically the leg would have part of the disk with it.

it has tottaly disintergrated, RIP brittlestar

 

[Uncle99]

RIP