Severed leg from brittle star responds to me

[PranK]

So, tonight I was working in my little tank which is where I put things that are no longer welcome in my display (cough, maroon clowns, lemon damsel ... ) and I noticed in my display that there was half a leg from my brittle star just lying on the substrate. When I picked it up to get it out of the tank, the dang thing started wriggling and curling up - it responded to me.
I threw it in the small overflow tank and then got my daughter to film me picking it up and it responding to my touch.




Here is the brittle star before he was moved to my display



The leg has colour and is still responsive. I reckon it'll end up growing into another brittle star.

Pretty cool I reckon.

 

[PranK]

So, I just fed the tank and the leg stretched out and moved around. I wonder if it knows it has no digestive system in its current state....

 

[PranK]

Feeding time?

 

[Wen]

Feeding time?

That’s so weird and creepy, haha!
I have a serpent Star (now living in sump) that has regenerated itself from 2 legs & 1/4 body.
But will only a single severed leg survive???
The suspense!

 

[ahiggins]

I’ve never heard of just a leg replicating to another whole one. Ime they need part of the body but not sure how small a piece lol good luck!

 

[TriggerFinger]

Do you have more than one star? The one you fed looked to have all his legs

 

[Pickwun]

So, I just fed the tank and the leg stretched out and moved around. I wonder if it knows it has no digestive system in its current state....

No, it doesn't know anything. Complete lack of a central nervous system will do that to you.

 

[PranK]

Do you have more than one star? The one you fed looked to have all his legs

No, only the one, but that feeding video was from 18 months ago.

 

[Malifry97]

WOW! Im following this to see how it turns out!

 

[PranK]

So I can confirm that the leg is still "alive" and that it has moved to live under the rocks so it's hard to capture on my phone. I can also confirm that the leg continues to respond to food in the tank!

I'll get some more footage tomorrow.

 

[Reef man 89]

that’s crazy!! I always thought that the leg need part of the disk to survive. It’s like a gecko when they lose there tail it is moves because of the muscles contracting. Very strange that the leg is still responding to food.

 

[PranK]

So tonight at feeding time I had another look. He definitely has some form of tissue or thing coming out of the leg where it was severed. This thing appears to be more prominent than yesterday.

 

[WSM]

Wow very strange following to see how this comes out

 

[ca1ore]

Severed legs will wiggle for a while before eventually decomposing. I’ve never had one grow into a new star .... you need a piece of the central disc for that.

 

[PranK]

Severed legs will wiggle for a while before eventually decomposing. I’ve never had one grow into a new star .... you need a piece of the central disc for that.

Theres something at the top of the leg that looks like it was something more than just leg tissue - could that be part of the central disc?

This isn't just wiggling, its responsive.

 

[ca1ore]

Theres something at the top of the leg that looks like it was something more than just leg tissue - could that be part of the central disc?

This isn't just wiggling, its responsive.

Could be or it could just be the process of putrefaction. Just wait and see.

 

[jeffchapok]

I watched the video and it looks to still be alive to me. After 4 days, I would expect it to have begun to decay if it wasn't. This has been interesting to watch.

 

[PranK]

The brittle star himself came out last night and I could see that the leg has severed 2 - 3 inches from the main body, so theres no way that any of its central disc is attached to the severed leg.

 

[Keesers]

 

[WSM]

Keep us updated! Really interested how this will turn out