Is this a harmful starfish hitchhiker?

[nanoreefer15]

I found this tiny white asterina starfish on my glass. On his backside he has a black dot in his center. Should I remove him? Does this kind eat coral/coralline algae?

 

 

[schgr.cube]

Yes, this is very likely an Asterina starfish. They usually multiply quickly, and there are many reports of them eating Coralline algae. Feelings seem pretty mixed on them, since they don't seem to do anything besides munching on your purple stuff, but I tend to get rid of them myself.

[WV Reefer]

I have asterina starfish and they haven't multiplied like crazy and do not eat anything but algae. 

[holy carp]

I have a half dozen of them, and that population seems unchanged over the course of the last year.  I have never seen them on coral or coralline algae.  Usually they hide in a nook in the rock or crawl through some gha.

 

That said, I think there are different types of similar looking starfish, but if it's on the glass, it clearly isn't eating coralline or corals, so I wouldn't worry.

[schgr.cube]

11 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

I have asterina starfish and they haven't multiplied like crazy and do not eat anything but algae. 

 

3 minutes ago, holy carp said:

I have a half dozen of them, and that population seems unchanged over the course of the last year.  I have never seen them on coral or coralline algae.  Usually they hide in a nook in the rock or crawl through some gha.

 

That said, I think there are different types of similar looking starfish, but if it's on the glass, it clearly isn't eating coralline or corals, so I wouldn't worry.

This is why I say feelings are mixed whenever I comment about these, as I have heard so many reports on one side or the other. I tend to err on the side of caution with stuff like this, but I'm glad to see there are positive reports of them (or similar looking starfish to them).

[holy carp]

For the record, I don't believe mine have a black dot, but the underside looks exactly the same as what you see through the glass.

[Oldsalt01]

Yes. Asterina star. And yes they do eat Coralline algae. Fairly innocuous but they multiply by division. I can't say how prolific they are as I have always removed them when discovered. Anecdotal reports of the colored (usually purple or brown) stars attacking corals. Guess it's up to you where to keep or not.

[oceanboy]

They're very cute little critters but I decided to pluck them out of mine just to be safe. You can always get snails, shrimp and hermits to graze on the algae

[mmacat]

I noticed one on the glass 6 months ago and disappeared for a while. Noticed one again on the glass again recently.  Havent seen them in zoas or anywhere else other than the glass. I took a risk for the sake of respecting all living things and guess I was lucky. 

[LazyFish]

I've literaly watched them eating on new zoa polyps and very young baby rock flower anemones. I remove everyone I see but they still pop up. Those are the only two things I've seen them eat besides algae. They were the plain kind not colored as well.