Tiny
colourful brittle stars
Ophiothela danae*
Family Ophiotrichidae
updated
Apr 2020
Where
seen? These
tiny brittle stars are sometimes seen on sea
fans, flowery
soft corals and other cnidarians and even on Thorny sea urchins. A single host
can be home to many of these tiny brittle stars. But it requires a
keen eye to spot them.
Features: Whole
animal about 1cm wide. 5-6 arms with very small spines, held flat, along the sides of the arm. Arms with colourful bands usually to match
the host animal. Central disk also with colourful markings. |
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Changi, Jul 12
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Sometimes confused with the Tiny orange brittle star which
are uniformly orange. The two kinds of tiny brittle stars are sometimes seen together. |
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Chek Jawa, Oct 16
In Spiky flowery soft coral |
Cyrene Reef, Aug 20
In Leathery sea fan |
*Species are
difficult to positively identify without close examination.
On this website, they are grouped by external features for convenience of
display
Tiny
colourful brittle stars on Singapore shores |
Other sightings on Singapore shores |
On Knobbly sea star
Changi Carpark 7, May 21
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook. |
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Pulau Ubin, Jul 17
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on facebook. |
Pulau Ubin, Dec 12
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on flickr. |
On flowery soft coral.
Chek Jawa, Jul 16
Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng on his blog. |
Links
References
- Lane, David
J.W. and Didier Vandenspiegel. 2003. A
Guide to Sea Stars and Other Echinoderms of Singapore.
Singapore Science Centre. 187pp.
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