Panama City Beach Starfish

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:13 pm

Does anyone have any experience with the starfish caught off of Panama City Beach? A friend of mine came back this week after a 1 week diving vacation over there. He brought me some 'gifts' which included 4 small starfish he snatched up. They're really cool looking; black/dark maroon base color with lots of small white spots. They are small like a quarter or a half dollar. Has anyone ever put these in a reef tank?

danielmiller82 · Post by **danielmiller82** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 10:41 pm

does it look like this:

or this

If so it is the Echinaster spinulosus or Orange Starfish. very common around these parts and is considered reef safe

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 5:18 am

Yep... this is it:

You think they are safe?

danielmiller82 · Post by **danielmiller82** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 9:27 am

KrazyPlace wrote:You think they are safe?

From all that I have read, they seem to be reefsafe and good additions to aquariums. A few online stores sell them for reeftanks. I have no personal experience with these though. Just do a search for "Echinaster spinulosus" or orange starfish and see what you find.

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 2:30 pm

Do they change color with age? If they do, then that would explain the difference in color in the two pictures. All 4 of mine look the same, but they are really small. What I have been able to find the Internet said they get up to 4" across.

They also said that they eat snails. That doesn't sound good me, but I might put one in the reef tank for a test.

danielmiller82 · Post by **danielmiller82** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 4:13 pm

one website said that they can change color 3-4 times during their life

KrazyPlace · Post by **KrazyPlace** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 7:28 pm

Can you send me that link?

danielmiller82 · Post by **danielmiller82** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 9:48 pm

http://www.gulfspecimen.org/starfish.html

Amphiprion · Post by **Amphiprion** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 5:44 pm

To my knowledge, this particular Echinaster species is temperate, not tropical. May want to keep an eye on it to make sure temp-related stress does not occur. There are several starfish sold that are also temperate, which usually dont live terribly long in captivity in higher temps.