yellow and pink serpent starfish

[jimsflies]

Check out the wild yellow and pink colors of this serpent star I picked up from my LFS this weekend. Has anyone seen these before?

http://www.jimsflies.com/reeftank/sunrise_starfish1.jpg

[Packersfan21]

never seen it before but it looks cool.

[philter4]

It looks like a guady star, an undiscribed and very rare serpent star from the caribbean and FL. I've been diving and collecting in FL for over 11 years and have only cought 6. They seem to do well and I have one that is over 8 inches from tip to tip. They live deep, we usually collect them when looking for red serpents deeper then 70-80 ft. I feed mine a variety of frozen food and spectra pellets. Very cool animal even if not a guady, good luck with him.

[jimsflies]

Cool thanks for the info!

I had him in that specimen box last night and he lost a leg. Not sure if it got caught in one of my small drilled holes and he felt threatened enough to drop it. Hopefully that's all it is and it grows back.

[Tennyson]

WOW! That is the most beautiful star I have ever seen. How much was it?

[jimsflies]

He was $50.

[IPowderBlueTang]

expensive but a good find

[philter4]

Just saw in Echinoderms fo Fl and the Caribbean, by Hendler, Miller, Pawson and Kier the scientific name is Ophioderma ensiferum. And there is a color photo of one in Humann's reef creature identification FL, car., and bahamas on pg 375 if anyone is interested.

[eshook]

That is a cool serp star!

[xian]

Very cool

Hey philter4

I'm thinking of buying a red. It looks pretty big. Do they eat fish?

[philter4]

I have had them eat frozen silversides, but they have never eaten a live fish in my tanks. I've kept them with angels, butterflies, small blue striped pipes and every other fish you could think of so I guess they are very safe.

[xian]

I'm going to have to bite then. Its too stunning an animal to pass on especially when I've got frags to trade :)