What the heck are these starfish doing!?!?!?!

[Pmolan]

I have a few sandsifting starfish in my tank, recently they have been doing this. Any ideas?



http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/starfish.jpg

[nebraskareef]

have to register to view the pic.

re-upload to RC or photobucket.

thanks

[Pmolan]

Sorry... New link.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...n/starfish.jpg

[AquaReeferMan]

I think they are doing the "dirty".

[Engine 7]

Why post a link to a picture? Post the picture...

[marie]

Are you allowed to show pics like that on here? isn't this a family board?

I have no idea what they are doing but it does look like they would appreciate some candlelight and music

[homestar]

bumping uglies

[omni2226]

Do I hear Barry White in the background?

[drummereef]

Bow-chicka-bow-chicka-bow-wow....

[nebraskareef]

Thank you for posting the pic.

I don't know how starfish reproduce but it certainly looks intimate, lol.

Awesome picture though, whatever they are doing.

[greenbean36191]

There are two possibilities here:
1. It's pseudocopulation. These stars are known to reproduce like this. They are actually broadcast spawners, so this isn't copulation, but by getting on top of each other, when they release their gametes they will be closer together and have a better chance of being fertilized. They won't survive of course.

2. They could be eating each other. These stars are also known to be canibals. Add that to the fact that they usually starve in reef tanks and you have a bad combination.

Of course it could also be a combination of the two options.

[Pmolan]

If you look close, looks like 69 Thanks for the input!!!

[Jesse-KT]

Bow-chicka-bow-chicka-bow-wow....

LMAO.

[lakwriter]

you should make that pic your avatar! I'd vote for it for AOTM

[plummike]

I think it is just a friendly back scratch.

[2fishy]

You guys are too funny! I would definately check the top of the one on the bottom to make sure it hasn't been eaten at.

[mk2flip]

where do you you think you get more from?

[pagojoe]

I'm with greenbean on this one, I suspect the top one is trying to eat the bottom one. I had that species (or one that looks exactly like that from the bottom) in my tank for a while. It would wrap up various animals in the tank, or attempt to. The more mobile creatures would escape easily. It repeatedly wrapped up my cone snails, but never managed to kill one. Until I introduced some Conus bandanus nigrescens from Western Samoa, that is. He killed 7 of them in one afternoon, wrapping them up and...dissolving them? I removed one snail from the tank less than an hour after the starfish had wrapped itself around it, and only green slime dripped from the shell, no solid parts of the cone animal were left. I've never had any other starfish do similar things to a cone, and that's the only Conus species I found that seems to be an easy victim for this starfish.

Cheers,



Don

[Tyke]

I have two sand sifters that have been doing that for a couple of years now. Mine do it in the sand bed, one half buried with the other laying on top of it. At times they lay like that for hours. I've read about these stars slowly starving to death over time but mine continue to grow slowly and seem very healthy. I've never seen any damage to either and the one on the bottom ( the girl?) doesn't try to escape. In my tank it seems to be a harmless behavior.

[Peter Eichler]

My vote is 3rd base with a little canibalism. DIRTY!

[kwaters]

One was tired and needed a lift.

[msman825]

[NaH2Ofreak]

Porn Stars!!

[2fishy]

Originally posted by NaH2Ofreak
Porn Stars!!

That is so bad! Funny though!!!

[msman825]