StarFish ID Please

[SimonHP]

Greetings from a wintery Cape Town!
Can anyone help me ID this starfish please. It came to me on an order from Kenya and was wrongly ID'ed as Valvaster striatus.
Thank you, Simon.

 

[GoVols]

Bump!

 

[jaxredsoxfan]

Not seen one like that before but its beautiful!

 

[GoVols]

Not seen one like that before but its beautiful!

That it is...;Drool , but I don't think it's reef safe, from going by it's shape... :(

 

[SimonHP]

That it is...;Drool , but I don't think it's reef safe, from going by it's shape... :(

Thank you GoVols. What about its shape worries you? I would be interested to hear what characteristics are generally indicative of unwanted behaviour and learn more about StarFish in general.

Indeed, it is beautiful, it has distinctive feathery protuberances from each of its arms and the photo does not do the deep crimson red colour proper justice.

At the moment it is cruising around the floor of a frag tank apparently eating algae with no concern for the corals. I have not yet tried any meaty food yet.

 

[resortez]

Identifying sea stars is always a tough one. Since it came from the African coast, I’m going to shoot for P. horridus. Good looking sea star, btw.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like member of penteceraster starfish group

 

[SimonHP]

Identifying sea stars is always a tough one. Since it came from the African coast, I’m going to shoot for P. horridus. Good looking sea star, btw.

Thank you very much Resortez. I found a blog that I scan read and took the following screenshot from.

How to tell apart the "knobby stars" <i>Protoreaster</i> from <i>Pentaceraster</i>

( photo by Kok Sheng on Flickr ) Greetings! Happy 2012 and Gung Hay Fat Choy! A prosperous Year of the Dragon to all of you! To kick ...

echinoblog.blogspot.com

I guess the name says it all :p Would you agree that it is not reliably reef safe?

 

[SimonHP]

Looks like member of penteceraster starfish group

Thank you for your observation, I think we're getting there!

 

[GoVols]

Looks like member of penteceraster starfish group

Totally agree, and why I felt like it's not 100% reef safe.

It sure is beautiful