Multicolor Sea Star

Care at a glance

Overview

It needs a mature tank of 200 litres or more at 24 to 27 C and pH 8.1 to 8.4 with plenty of live rock, since it feeds on biofilm, tiny sponges, and detritus rather than prepared food. It is very sensitive to swings in salinity, temperature, and pH, so drip acclimate it slowly over an hour or more. It is reef safe and ignores corals, but it starves in young or overly clean tanks.

In the wild

This is a small, slender sea star with five thin arms, usually mottled in pink, red, tan, and gray with tiny red flecks. It is smaller and more delicate than the popular blue linckia, reaching about 13 cm across. It roams rock and glass grazing the fine film that coats mature surfaces.

Good to know

Linckia multifora reproduces by fission, dropping an arm that then regrows a whole new star from the single limb. These detached, regrowing arms are called comets, and finding a lopsided comet star with arms of different lengths is common in the wild.

Did you know

A single dropped arm can regrow an entire new sea star, so one animal can slowly clone itself across a tank.

Related species

• 

  Blue Linckia Star

  Linckia laevigata

  11.8 in (30 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Coco Worm

  Protula bispiralis

  5.1 in (13 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Slate Pencil Urchin

  Eucidaris tribuloides

  5.1 in (13 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Sand-Sifting Star

  Archaster typicus

  4.7 in (12 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Collector Urchin

  Tripneustes gratilla

  5.9 in (15 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Fromia Star

  Fromia milleporella

  5.9 in (15 cm)40 gal (150 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)