Green Brittle Sea Star - Ophiarachna incrassata

Purchased: January 19th, 1998

Yes, this is the dreaded green brittle star. Considered a non-reef safe sea star this fellow enjoys life in my sump after eating several peppermint shrimp.

The arms of this sea star are about 8 to 10 inches long. It spirals its arms around its body and lifts its body off the substrate to make a nice little sheltered area for a shrimp or fish to swim into. Once that happens the trap is tripped and the arms slam shut and very long spike like teeth dig into its pray.

Once a week or so I offer this sea star a small chunk of frozen shrimp which it aggressively tracks down in the sump and wraps its arms around.

This picture is taken from above the sump looking down. The oral disc is about 2 inches across in size and would have no problem eating small fish.

Early 2001 this sea star got a little to close to my return pump and lost several of his arms. It turned out to be a fatal injury.