VERY odd Basket Starfish question?

[Dan_cochran]

try not to laugh 2 much.

ok here it is, my buddy has a HUGE Basket Starfish in his 125g tank and part of one leg fell off and I have it in my frag box net thing.
It has still been moving and feeding on phyto for about 3 weeks now, and almost seem's to be getting bigger.

Can these legs that fall off creat another Basket Starfish ?? I figured by now it would of Stopped moving, but is still going stong... Any info ???????????????

"I have googled and not found very much info, it will react to fresh phyto just like my buddys big Basket Starfish, Just that this leg dont have a mouth like his yet anyways, and it was only half a leg"

His Basket Starfish one leg can fold out to 16 inch, we have not seen his Basket Starfish un-fold all his legs at once as of yet, but Im not sure if it has room in that 125g. the Basket Starfish dont seem to like to touch anything.

[Dan_cochran]

I guess the idea would not be 2 far out,, a crown-of-thorns starfish can do it.. and I did finaly find a little info..

"Among the amazing abilities of starfish is a remarkable talent for regeneration. A starfish that loses a ray can grow a whole new one, given time. Most species can only regenerate if the central part of the body is intact, but a few species can grow back even from a single ray. Those species, like Linckia, will regenerate several whole starfish from a single starfish that gets torn apart."

Well, im not sure what to say,,, Any Input ?????

[MizTanks]

Keep the leg it will regenerate into another star fish. Way cool to watch it grow.
You know those little windmill thingys that kids hold on a stick? There's a leg at our LFS that looks just like one of those.

[Sir Patrick]

Keep us posted on how this turns out!

[Dan_cochran]

It is really odd to see just one Leg do this.
So I found a Basket Starfish likes it warm, and lots of food. Really not much online about them.

Oh yes, Sir Patrick.
But here we are around week 3, and still moving. I must admit, I still am a little thinking there is no way this thing could grow another body and mouth. But every morning it is curled up in a little ball, and unfolds around feeding time. Almost like a SyFy movie or somthing. I will see if I can round up a small video cam or somthing and take a short weekly or bi weekly short Video. that way if this thing really will grow a new body I have it on video/pictures or somthing.

MizTanks
I do have a Question, How in the world can a Basket Starfish grow a new body with no mouth or anything ???
It's in my tank, so I figure I should ask all kinds of questions. I normally ask questions before anything goes in my tank. just did not work out that way this time

[Dan_cochran]

I did find it's other name, "Astrophyton muricatum" I have NO idea how to say it
But I am finding more info and pictures of it's type then I was using "Basket starfish"

I did find this PDF, I will skimm over it and see if I can learn anything.
http://caribjsci.org/epub10.pdf

I did find that a few people say they eat more of a zooplankton. I'm glad I have had two Ten gallon tanks setup and running for live feed. 1 tank my own mix of zooplankton, and the other with Pods, worms, brine, and macro.

As of a little update: The leg has a good hold of a smal rubble rock "dead birds nest looking rock" and is reaching out into the water very nice. for only it being half a leg it really acts like it has it's own brain.
I would put it down in my tank for better water flow and more food but I dont want any thing picking at it since it Must be under stress as it is, loosing its body. It has lived so far so i will keep it where it is in that breader box.

[Joefish]

Would love to see some pics now and showing it growing back over the next few months.

[Dan_cochran]

ok, I guess we will see.
Here is what I finally found online.

Reproduction
Basket star can reproduce both sexually and asexually and they both requires energy to get done. In asexual reproduction, there is a process of a voluntary splitting of the central disc which called fission, and every part regenerating the lacking portion of the disc and arms, forming the entire basket stars.

In sexual reproduction, matured male enlarges white gonads that are accumulated in the bursal slits and matured female enlarges brown gonads. The bursal slits are to be found at the foundation of the arms, on the oral surface and that it is unique.

In asexual fission, male produce other males and female generate females by breaking into several pieces.

well it says "breaking into several pieces" it was only one leg, but nothing Rock solid that it will regrow a new body. Well I give up for today reading. Never really know I guess when it comes to salt water stuff.

[Dan_cochran]

Joefish,
I did take some pictures today, not sure how good they are yet, but i did get some.

I have some really nice stuff in my tank, and the odd thing is here I am simply Mind blown that a starfish Leg still moving.... I could see if it only moved around for the first week at the most, but going on 3.... It has no mouth, it is only a 1/2 of a leg, it still can drag it self, curl up during the day, open up tward night or at anytime I add phyto. its just mind blowing,, but i guess it just goes to show we really do not know much about things in the sea, just that if We could loss a Arm and it would still move around for this amount of time would be Nuts,, it makes me think of the word "Zombie" or adams family..

I will post back in a few days, if it gets to week 4 and still moving I will really start to think it is working on a re-growing a body, as right now I will say it is just a really, really, healthy leg, I am still really skeptic.

[MizTanks]

Hope this helps

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish