Sea Snake or Starfish?

[mhart]

Ok, I've looked everywhere online trying to find out what this is. I have 2 Dark Brittle starfish (the ones that look like they have spikes) and I guess another variety of Brittle Star (one White and Gray and the other one Black and Gray) that do not have the spikes but have the round body with the legs attaching to that.

Well, this morning, I noticed that the non-spiked star (White and Gray) had lost a leg, at least an inch and a half of one. I didn't think anything of it as I figure that one of the other starfish made a nip at him or he got his leg hung around my anemone and it decided that anything near that mouth was edible. At any rate, I was feeding my anemone and noticed the tip of what looked like the White and Gray starfish poking up in the sand. When I tried to get him to show the kids, I couldn't find him. I waited for the water to settle and lo and behold, this tip is sticking up again. This time I was able to grab it and found that it was only a half inch long, no body, just looks like the tip of one of the starfish legs. It's alive, it squirmed around in my hand. Could this be part of the lost leg of my starfish and can it regenerate and entire body??? I know they can regen their lost limbs, but I would think that it would need a mid-section in order to eat in order to regen from a leg.

It's smooth to the touch and very thin like my Brittles. I've thought that perhaps it could be something from my sand-sifting star who I found dead last night (I thought he had moved and was still alive, got him out, saw a small spike in the nitrites which is why I started hunting thankfully, did a 30% water change and am going to test again tomorrow - the nitrites were at +/- 1.0 when I found it.) At any rate, the "appendage" is thin compared to the fat legs of the sand-sifter.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!! :)

[mhart]

I still haven't gotten any takers on this yet, I've been researching for a few hours and the only thing I can gather is that my starfish leg dropped off as a way to reproduce. If I see the tip again in a few days and it isn't moving, I'll guess that it was just reflex and hope that I get the pieces out before they put my tank in peril.

[Travis L. Stevens]

There is a Brackish water eel (I dont remember what its called) that looks very similar to what you are describing. I would do a little searching about different types of eels.

[mhart]

Hmm, I would have never thought of that, thanks for the advice.

[mhart]

Wow, a quick lookup to eels and I think that it could be a Tiger Snake Eel or a Goldspot Eel. I'm still not 100% convinced that it might not be a part of my starfish, but I've just never heard of a foot growing a new body. This little guy was about an inch long and very much alive and he shot up out of the sand when I put food in to feed my anemone.

Looks like I might have an eel to get rid of in a few months when he gets bigger....don't have a big enough tank to hold him. *L*

[Travis L. Stevens]

It sounds a lot more like an eel than a starfish leg, though a starfish leg will eventually grow into another starfish. The actions you describe it doing doesn't sound much like a star to me though