Uchin eats starfish

PeterEde

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 8, 2021
Messages
2,558
Reaction score
2,347
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Today my longspine urchin decided to eat an appendage off my new sand sifting starfish.
Hopefully the starfish will survive and regro the leg?

20240328_172544.jpg 17117051679489219417844424903635.jpg
 

GlassMunky

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
2,938
Reaction score
3,814
Location
NJ-Philly Burbs
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How do you know it was the urchin that did it?
Did you see it happen or did the starfish just come out of a rock missing a leg so you assume it was the urchin.

Generally urchins are herbivores they don’t attack other creatures.
 
OP
OP
PeterEde

PeterEde

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 8, 2021
Messages
2,558
Reaction score
2,347
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
How do you know it was the urchin that did it?
Did you see it happen or did the starfish just come out of a rock missing a leg so you assume it was the urchin.

Generally urchins are herbivores they don’t attack other creatures.
The urchin was sitting on it for a few hours.
After googling if urchins do eat starfish the result was a maybe. Well once the urchin moved away the starfish was missing a leg. So 100 % witnessed
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

5000 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 22, 2021
Messages
6,361
Reaction score
7,662
Location
United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Does the urchin have enough algae in the tank for it? Urchins may occasionally eat meat in nature, but it's typically rare unless the urchin is starving.

With enough good food and water, the star should heal.
 
OP
OP
PeterEde

PeterEde

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 8, 2021
Messages
2,558
Reaction score
2,347
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Does the urchin have enough algae in the tank for it? Urchins may occasionally eat meat in nature, but it's typically rare unless the urchin is starving.

With enough good food and water, the star should heal.
There's algea on rocks and back glass I often feed it nori by hand.
Now I'm wondering if it's keeping the astrea stars under control
 

EricR

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 9, 2021
Messages
2,327
Reaction score
2,465
Location
California USA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My pincushion urchin ate a small, healthy hermit crab a couple of years ago.
*of course the consensus would be no, some other explanation, but what I witnessed was pretty clear (to me anyway)
 
OP
OP
PeterEde

PeterEde

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Nov 8, 2021
Messages
2,558
Reaction score
2,347
Location
Adelaide, South Australia
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My pincushion urchin ate a small, healthy hermit crab a couple of years ago.
*of course the consensus would be no, some other explanation, but what I witnessed was pretty clear (to me anyway)
Always the outliers.
I've had this urchin since my first live rock. It was⅜ when I first found it. It's now dia of 2 golf balls.
I knew it ate fireworks but didn't think starfish would be on the menu. Especially considering I have plenty of algea and feed it nori.
 

Looking for the spotlight: Do your fish notice the lighting in your reef tank?

  • My fish seem to regularly respond to the lighting in my reef tank.

    Votes: 59 73.8%
  • My fish seem to occasionally respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 10 12.5%
  • My fish seem to rarely respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 6 7.5%
  • My fish seem to never respond to the lighting in my tank.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I don’t pay enough attention to my fish to notice if they respond to the lighting.

    Votes: 2 2.5%
  • I don’t have any fish in my tank.

    Votes: 2 2.5%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 1.3%
Back
Top